DISCLAIMER: The information below is based solely on our observations of our finches, and is not intended to indicate typical behavior for all finches of this species.

Our Finches

ABOVE: The female green singing finch in demure poses.
	LEFT and RIGHT: The male green singer. These photos were taken shortly before he was temporarily removed from the community due to his increasing aggression during what he considered his nesting period.

General Comments

This pair of finches, our green singers, are the most individualistic finches of the whole community. Most of the other finches, whether in male-female pairs or not, have formed close bonds with the birds around them. This bonding includes preening of necks and heads of other finches and snuggling with other finches at rest and sleep times. Not so with the green singers. They have not been observed engaging in any of these activities with either each other or with any other finches in the group. The male and female do sit close to, but not touching or snuggled with, each other.

The bond that they have developed, however, is very strong. The two can be observed singing to each other. Occasionally, the male feeds the female as she begs, mouth open, and flutters her wings as if she were a chick. Over the months, too, they've been observed mating and attempting to nest build. On a few occasions, the male had begun to become so aggressive toward the other community members that we removed him.

While not in breeding mode, the green singers have a firm but relatively non-aggressive way in which to keep the other finches a fair distance - they simply threaten to bite any bird that comes a little too close.

They have yet to be observed actually biting another finch, so it seems that the other community members possess a healthy respect the green singers' need for an generous amount of personal space. The green singing finch pair are least like the others of the community, I personally find them the most intriguing. However, in a small non-breeding community such as ours, they are a little too aggressive during the times they "think" they should be breeding. To give them the opportunity to breed, which they so obviously wanted, we gave them to a local breeder.

ABOVE: Top and bottom, The male and female dine on garden-fresh lettuce and spinach. Note that the male is actually standing on the lettuce.

Dietary Requirements

Social Habits

Courtship

Initially, did not observed these finches engaging in courtship behavior other than that of the female begging for the male to feed her, which he does. Both male and female have been observed holding blades of grass and pieces of moss in their mouths, but neither bird has "danced" nor built nests with these items.

That is, until planter boxes filled with indigenous grasses were installed in the aviary. Behaviour has included piercing just-after-dawn songs by the male (at 5:40 a.m.! on June 30, '97) as well as more and slightly louder vocalizations by both male and female.

The trouble is is that we aren't very interested in encouraging our finches to breed. The green singer, however, seem intent on building a nest from growing grasses they pluck from the nest boxes. Tentatively, the nest is being built in the dish of one of the hanging feeders. On occasion, both male and female will defend the feeder, though not always. To discourage their breeding, we will continue to remove nesting materials as well as alter the environment from time to time.

RIGHT MIDDLE: The female, right, being fed by the male, left, as part of their courtship and bonding activities..

RIGHT TOP: Right, The female green singer facing us. the male has his back to us. RIGHT BOTTOM: The male with a feather in his mouth. In the absence of of "real" nesting materials, such as dried grass, He lets his interest in nesting show by carrying around a feather found at the aviary's bottom BELOW:   Our female green singer.