whydahs

[djb78]

Just to satisfy my curiosity the pin tail whydah, is this speices also known as the paradise whydah? Do they need brood hosts such as st helenas and African fires or will they breed on their own? Do they eat what regular finches eat ie/greens,fruit, seeds,live food? Are they hardy enough to go through a sheltered winter or are they a soft bird? Are they available to someone from Vic and are they in the thousands of dollars. The reason for asking is they seem to be a nice looking bird and being curious and thinking of adding to my wish list after getting weavers.

[Tiaris]

Pin-tailed are brood parasites to the Saint Helena. Paradise whydah is a different parasitic species. Melbas are their hosts. Only the Pin-tailed remains in captivity in Australia to my knowledge.

[jusdeb]

Could someone please explain what is meant by brood parasites ....I have never heard of this term before . Thanks

[Tiaris]

The Whydah lays its egg(s) in the saint helena's nest & the saints hatch & rear the young Whydah with their own young.

[E Orix]

The Pintailed Whydah is parasitic as mentioned.
The female lays her egg/s in the nest of the St Helena Waxbills nest and then leaves all the incubation and feeding to the Waxbills as per the
Cuckoo does. The main difference is that the young Whydah doesn't eject the hoste species young out but are reared along side them.
As for feeding, just the same as the Waxbills infact easier I guess.
Australia is the only country where there is a fully domesticated breeding stock of Pintailed Whydahs. There are a few exceptions but most Pintails breed in captivity outside of Aust. are generally accidental or on a hit or miss basis.

[wagga]

The Pintailed Whydah's left in Australia is another example of an Australian breeding success story. A big thumbs up to those maintaining existing breeding stock.

[jusdeb]

Thank you , I knew that the Cuckoo did this but didn't know what it was called or that the Whydah did it . I have learnt something new today

[djb78]

Well one good thing about this speices is that I do breed st helenas, but what are the chances of coming across a breeding pair- are they easy to find or do I have to go on a waiting list with breeders.

[Danny]

I have also had pin tails raised under Black Throats and White Headed nuns (the saints were not breeding that year ).

[E Orix]

Danny
This interests me greatly.
In the past I have only come across one person who said he had bred them under Tri Nuns.He didn't convince me though.
I can't dismiss what you have said as I know your ability .This really interests me,can you let me know how many pairs of Saints were available compared to other species and were the aviaries that they were bred in small in size.
Following the other persons claim I housed the Pintails with St Helenas and upward of 30 pair of Tri Nuns and each time the Pintail young were raised under St Helenas.Even today there are large numbers of Tri's available and still not a chick reared by them.The period now would span at least 9 years.