Three days later.

Nature really is incredible. Baby birds grow so fast, you could almost set up one of those time lapse cameras in the aviary and watch them grow overnight! The baby zebra finches have nearly doubled in size, and you can see their little beaks gaping open waiting to be fed.


I had to very patient to get these next photos; finches are never still! The finch on the left is one of our immature Gouldians. These birds take about a year to develop their full colours. This one is just starting to show the mauve on his chest. The one in the middle is a Zebra finch, and on the right is a mature Gouldian.

If it is a male, he will look like his Dad in this pic.


This is our Diamond Firetail Finch - so called because of the brilliant red feathers under his tail that can only be seen when he is in flight. One day if I'm patient enough, I may get a pic of him in flight.


I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the baby canaries this week. From barely feathered little creatures, they were out of the nest and flitting around on the floor of the aviary within a few days! This was taken the day before they fledged.

Early November in the aviaries.

The Zebra Finches seem to breed all year round, but we don't usually see them this small. The mother made a nest in a feeding basket (the white things are cuttlefish), so her babies were hatched out in the open instead of in their usual nestboxes.


The Ménage à trois canary family are busy. We have one male and two females, one of which has just hatched five babies. One baby fell out of the nest and didn't survive, but the other four appear to be doing well.



Ken finally put two nest boxes in the budgies' aviary, and they have been excitedly checking them out ever since. There are nine eggs in one, but we have no idea who the mother is, as several budgies go in and out of there all the time!