Parson Finch
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Parson Finch
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The Parson Finch By Bill Goodwin The Parson Finch (Poephila cincta) also known, as Black-throated Finch and Diggles' Finch, and more than likely known under a few other names, originates from Australia. In it’s native habitat it is now in trouble as the numbers have declined. There are also no exact counts. It is estimated that of some of the southern sub-species there is less than 2000 left. Since no export of Australian finch has been allowed for many years, all of the Parsons seen now in the US, are either bred here or imported from Europe. The Parson Finch is a very striking bird. It is not as colorful as many of the other Australian finches that are kept today, but it is still in it’s own right one of the prettiest and most peaceful Australian finches. Due to the declining numbers this is one finch that should be bred more in captivity. Care should be taken not to house the Parson Finch with Heck’s Masked Finch or Shaftails, as they will interbreed. The diet of the Parson Finch is not demanding and is therefore making them a good finch for the beginner. A diet of a good quality finch seed and eggfood, as well as some livefood (not required), is all that is needed to keep them happy. In our aviaries we do not feed live food to the Parsons as they do get some live food just by living in outdoor aviaries. We feed ours a diet that includes a good mix of finch seed, eggfood as well as boiled rice, mixed vegetables and cuttlebone.
Sexing the Parson Finch can be a challenge at first. The males and females are colored almost the same. The head is a bluish grey color with black around the eyes. Below the black beak there is a black bib, that runs down to the chest. The chest itself is a light brown, almost tan, that blends into a cinnamon-brown colored back. The underside to the vent is white. The flanks also have a large black patch. The beak is black in most species and the legs are a faded orange. All these colors can be varied to different degrees depending on the mutation and subspecies. The easiest way to sex Parson’s is to have them side by side in a cage sitting on perches. This way you will notice right away the wider larger bib on the male, which changes size as the bird moves it head. This is not 100 percent fool proof, as there seem to be so many in-between sized bibs but is a good indicator of the sex. The head of the male Parson also seems to have a little lighter color than the head of the female. The final way to tell sexes is to watch and catch the males sing their songs. This combined with bib sizes and head colors will make sexing a little less work. In our aviaries we have found that it is best with the Parson, as with most finch we keep, to allow them to choose their mate. We do this by letting the male have several females to choose from. Then we remove the extra females and re-pair them with other males. Once we have several bonded pairs we combine them into the same flight. Most pairs will choose a wooden nest box over the wicker style nest. They also seem to prefer the Gouldian style of nest box to the normal wooden box. They build nests from fibers and Bermuda grass with a final lining of feathers or other soft materials. To bring the Parson Finch in to breeding condition or breeding mood by adding eggfood and/or mealworms to the diet as well as nesting material seems to do the trick. Incubation is 12-14 days with the clutch sizes being 5-8. Most Parsons are good parents and raise their young with great passion. We have found it best to leave the young with the parents a little longer than we do with most finches. They fledge at 3 weeks but seem to do best if left with their parents longer. The young molt at about 180 days, or 6 months, and will breed at that time if allowed to. We try to wait until they are at least one year old before allowing them to breed. We keep our Parson Finch in outdoor flights year around. Most of these flights measure 3 feet by 8 feet by 6 feet tall. This allows us to enjoy their flying skills and nest building activities. More people should concentrate on breeding the Parson as they are becoming harder and harder to find in captivity in the US and are becoming endangered in Australia. |
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