ALL ABOUT ZEBRA FINCHES
Pair of wild zebra finches
Common Name: Zebra Finch
Scientific Name:
Poephila
guttata
Other
Name:
Chestnut-eared finch
Length:
100mm
Male
Appearance:
Head grey with pale chestnut on ear-coverts. Back grey-brown; rump
white; tail-coverts barred black and white. Face white, bordered with
black; throat, neck and upper breast pale grey with fine black bars;
lower breast black; flanks pale chestnut with white spots; belly and
under tail-coverts white. Eye and bill red; legs red-orange.
Female
Appearance:
Similar to male but lacks ear patches and
flank marks; throat and breast pale buff; underparts pale buff; bill
paler.
Immatures:
Similar to female, bill black; legs grey; eye grey-brown.
Voice
Call:
Harsh, nasal tiah; short, soft, repetitive tet.
Voice
Song:
Harsh, nasal trill in series of phrases, each phrase lasts 1-2 seconds.
Nesting:
Breeds in most months, depending on seasonal conditions. Nest
flask-shaped with spherical nest chamber 120-200mm in diameter, a side
entrance 30-80mm in diameter and an entrance tunnel, 50-250mm long.
Made of grass stems, large on outside, getting progressively smaller
towards inside; built on twigs of bushes and low trees, occasionally in
hollows or on the ground.
Eggs:
Usually
four or five; pure white; 11x15mm.
Distribution:
Very common across Australia, particularly across central with the
exception in wet coastal forests.
The Zebra Finch in
Australia:
Australia’s smallest, most common and widespread grass finch and the
most popular with bird fanciers and scientists alike. Devoted clubs to
the Zebra Finch are found all around the world. The behaviour and
physiology of the zebra finch are among the most intensively studied of
any species of bird in the world.
Experiments have shown that zebra finches can live for long periods
without water; however their natural distribution in Australia is
closely linked to surface water. Like all seed-eating birds, zebra
finches drink at least once a day, and they continue to do so almost on
the hour. This habit of flying hourly to waterholes was used by
Aborigines and by early explorers of central Australia, who followed the
zebra finches and found water, which saved their lives. Like some other
grass finches, zebras drink by sucking up water rather than scooping it
up which the vast majority of other birds do.
Zebra finches eat fallen grass seeds, ripe and half-ripe. Sometimes
they jump up and pull the spoke down to extract the seed. Zebras rarely
eat flying insects.
Zebra finches are extremely social birds which form non-breeding flocks
of 50-100 individuals, although thousands may be seen around waterholes
during dry periods. During the breeding season, colonies are formed
with 5 to 25 pairs of birds.
The bond between a pair of birds is thought to last for life. Usually
each pair has its own bush for nesting in. The male zebra suggests
suitable nest sites and the finicky female accepts or rejects them.
Once a suitable site is found, the birds bow to each other and then
start building their nest.
The male brings grass stems, held by one end and the female works them
in. A platform is first built, and then the floor, walls and roof of
the nest chamber, and finally the entrance tunnel is attached. The nest
is lined with feathers and plant material.
Courtship is in three stages. First both birds dance to and fro about
each other amid twigs. Then both stop and the male begins to sing and
dance before the female, which finally crouches and invites mounting by
vibrating her tail up and down. Copulation only takes a few seconds.
The female lays one egg per day for four to five days and incubation
then starts with the fourth egg. Both the male and female incubate the
eggs and brood and feed the young. Eggs hatch after about 12 days and
the young leave the nest about three weeks later. Ten days after
fledging the nest, the young are independent. Zebra finches mature
faster than any other species of bird. Nine to ten weeks after
hatching, both sexes develop their adult plumage and are capable of
breeding.
The breeding season is influenced by rainfall. Where rainfall is
seasonal, breeding is seasonal; where rainfall is unpredictable, as in central
Australia, breeding is irregular. In central Australia zebras can breed at
any time of the year as long as the rains have started. Their response to
rain is so rapid, that they begin courting and nest building within hours of the
rain beginning. No other finch can switch on the breeding system as fast
as the zebra finch can.
Source of page information is from the Reader's Digest Complete book of Australian Birds.