Here are four of my new babies.     The two Zebra Finches are called Bubble and Squeek. Bubble is  always hurrying about and Squeek is so called because he is always singing.    Sometimes he sounds more like a space invader though. The two birds on the right hand side are Paradise Whydahs.     Guinevere  (the hen) is a plainish brown little thing while Lancelot  (the cock bird)  shows himself off as being very grand when in full colour.  His head is black with an orange collar and breast.   His tummy is cream and he has a lovely  tail which is about 12 inches long.    He also has a cute little song.     I  have read in books that when he goes out of breeding condition his lovely colouring disappears and he resembles the hen.   He has recently dropped his tail so I am now waiting to see what else changes.

This is Mork and Mindy two of my Gouldian Finches.  Mork is on the left hand side and has brighter colours than Mindy.   They are only 10 months old and are just coming through their first moult.   Mork is a comical  little bird as he does a little dance  (quite like an Irish Jig)   in front of Mindy to attract her attention.

This page was last updated on: 9 December, 2002

Here are Salty and Peppy.  November 2001 They are Chestnut Flanked White Zebra Finches.    As with any new bird I bring in to the aviary, they are put in a quarantine cage  before they join the others.

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7th December 2001.       Once transferred to their new home Salty and Peppy  laid five tiny eggs.    On checking them out they all appear to be full.   I am looking forward to them hatching in about a fortnight.    I  will keep you posted.

21 December 2001.   Some of Salty and Peppy's eggs have hatched. Here we have three chicks which are four days old.  They have some soft downie feathers whereas the budgies  are bald when they hatch.

Mum and Dad  tell us not to play in our dinner.

Salty and Peppy introducing Itsy and Bitsy to sprouted seeds.   The chicks were fully feathered and able to fly at two weeks old.   As you can see the juvenille finches have black beaks.  Once they moult out,  their feather colouring comes through,  the female's  beak turns orange and the male's red.

Don't forget the fruit gums,  Mum

Watch out!    Dad's fleein'!!

Psst!!    What mischief can we get up to now?

16th January.    As the books predicted,   Lancelot has now lost most of his colouring and is now very much like Guinevere.  We have put a blue split ring on his leg so that we will be able to tell them apart should he lose any more colour.

8 March 2002 Mork and Mindy have laid six eggs of which two have  hatched today so far.

8 March 2002 Presenting Robin and Ruby.    They are both the same age but Ruby has been slow to come through the moult, as you can see.   When she has fully moulted out she will also have a red head.

Here we have the same chick at one day old and 12 days old.  You can still see the phospherous nodules at the side of its beak

Unfortunately Mork and Mindy did not feed the chicks so I have fostered them to Salty and Peppy, two of my Zebra Finches, to rear

1 April 2002 Here we have  my Gouldian Baby now  24 days old.   Today he has taken his first big steps in his adventure out of the nest.    He has discovered how to sit on a finger drawer while resting his tail on the perch.    The phospherous nodules at the side of his beak are getting less prominent now .    Salty and Peppy have been good foster parents to him.

My collection of Gouldians is  slowly increasing. This is Robin on the left and Jasper, on the right.

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This is Nugget,  Jasper and  Dusty

Ruby (left) has now come through the moult.  Cindy, one of my Bengalese is next to her, then Mindy,  Candy  (who is still moulting out)   and the baby  (Parsley)  at the end,  now three months old.

The Zebra Family

'Bet you can't rub my tummy'

October 2002 A nest of Gouldian chicks at 3 weeks old, peeping out the nestbox with their foster parents, Tufty and Blanche.

Here are the six chicks at 4 weeks old.   Foster dad Tufty is on the left of the bottom perch and foster mum Blanche is on the right.   The colours on the Gouldians won't be through properly until they are about 4 - 6 months old.  Their real mum and dad are Nugget and Mindy.

Say 'CHEESE'