Gouldian Babies

The aviary which resides at my parents place has recently had some new arrivals in the form of Gouldian finch babies. I originally purchased a red headed male some years ago, and had my eye out for a red-headed female from a different source. In some respects my brother beat me to it, contributing a yellow headed female courtesy of one of his friends who also has a backyard aviary. The amazing thing about Gouldians, apart from their striking plumage, is their inquisitive unflustered nature. Quite unlike the Zebras and Fireys, regardless of whether you are at the side of the aviary or inside it, the Gouldians come right up you to say Hello and see what is going on. It's a shame that their vocalisations are pitched at frequencies above what we can audibly pick up, as they seem to also spend considerable time belting out numbers. The males mating dance is also worth seeing. With a twig held in his beak, he does a jig, jumping up and down next to where the female is perched. At first, Mrs G didn't seem to be particularly interested in raising a family. However, eventually the pair seemed to take an interest and moved into one of the many nests constructed by the Zebras. Occasionally one would be sitting, but no clutches seemed to get raised. Possibly their nests were being re-claimed by the Zebras. This seems likely given recent proceedings. I noticed that once again the Gouldians were sitting on a clutch, for several weeks this time. Unfortunately, it looked like once again they were no longer sitting and had abandonned the next. A few weeks later, whilst doing the rounds, I noticed that some Zebras were raising a brood in the same nest, but the bleatings didn't sound like Zebra bleatings. Sure enough, the Zebras were raising a clutch of Gouldian babies. Having taken the nest, they had unwittingly completed the incubation and reared the hapless chicks as their own. And what chicks they were. Healthy and large, too large to be Zebra chicks, with a delicate olive plumage. And 4 of them! Once they started flying about, they seemed to work out pretty fast that Zebras they were not, and who their real parents were, who assisted in their post-nest feeding. Now they are slowly colouring up. Fantastic!

Mr Gouldian

Mrs Gouldian, flanked on either side by black-beaked chicks

Gouldian chick (centre), with female Zebra top right, and male Fire finch in foreground.

The aviary