New Sexing Method for Diamond Firetails

Includes Species Profile
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Finchman1
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I had a nice surprise this moring when feeding the birds their greens,2 young diamonds fledged sitting on the perch and one more sticking its head out of the nest box.
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Danny
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One thing to remember about this method is that we are looking at a trait that we are pretending is highlighted by UV vision (i.e. a fiddled photoshop image brought it to Danny's attention, but this doesn't necessarily correspond to something a bird gives two hoots about). Years back I looked at real UV highlighted features (i.e. features that only other birds could see as they can see in UV) and there were plenty but I never followed the experiment through. If you get a chance, have a look at David Attenborough's Life of Birds and the UV section - things that are invisble to us look like beacons to other birds. I can't find my notes but on numerous species we were finding highlighted caps, underwing stripes, invisible spots and blotches on a whole range of species that to us were totally monomorphic (double bars, longtails, diamonds, etc). UV vision works only on plain pigmented colours - it has no strong impact on greens or reds, but whites, blacks, blues and browns may have underlying patterns. All that is needed is a simple Woods lamp, able to be purchased on ebay and the time to sit with known specimens of known gender and investigate where they differ. I was amazed, but I've lost my notes and can't recall what was what. Herein lies a project for someone with more spare time than me.
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Diane
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I made a post a while back about the UV factor, but with reference to begging gouldian chicks.
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Diane
The difference between Genius and Stupidity is, Genius has it’s limits
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BENSONSAN
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Hmnn very very interesting. Well tomorrows my day off best be taking some pics of these little guys. WHich i can tell is not going to be easy. Unfortunatly i still dont have my pc back a running :thumbdown:
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MadHatter
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Danny - I have studied the scenes from The Life of Birds and I am quite sure that the glow you see is produced with the aid of post-production special effects. That is not to say that I doubt your word regarding the experiments you tried. I have been exited by the possibility of visual sexing by blacklight ever since I first saw The Life of Birds. Your comment is the first time I have heard a first-hand account from anyone who has tried it, and I'm thrilled you got good results. I'd love to hear more about your methodology. (perhaps in another thread?)
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SamDavis
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Anyone want to have a go at sexing these two?
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I originally thought the one on the left was a cock and on the right a hen but now I have no idea. I haven't seen either singing, both are about 6 months old.
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spanna
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Yeah I think a pair as well, cock on the left. The head shape is a good one to go by, cock being rounded, hens more flat, and a cockbird in breeding condition will have a darker beak as yours does.
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Diane
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I can see the difference you mean spanna, but if we are going by the original definition as described in the first post, the smooth line (hen) or the broken line (cock) I would have to say the bird on the left is the hen and the cock is on the right.
Which ever is which, the bird on the left seems to be the bigger bird.
Diane
The difference between Genius and Stupidity is, Genius has it’s limits
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SamDavis
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Every time I look at them I change my mind. At least you guys (Spanna and BB) think they're a pair. I've only recently kept diamonds and my other pair (parents of bird on the right) are obvious based on the method described in the first post. In addition, the parent cock sings all the time but I haven't heard either of these 2 sing (so I suspect 2 hens). These two are about 6 months, does anyone know at what age diamond cocks start to sing?
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spanna
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Anywhere from around 3 months onwards in my experience, around when they have most of their adult plumage.
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