Blue Faced Parrot Finch
Birds in Focus...
Thierry TEISSEIRE
Erythrura t.trichroa Habitat - Caroline islands. Size - 11 to 12 cm
Description : As for all species of the Erythrura kind, the tail area is Bordeaux red, the head is dark blue, the bill is black. The body is green, enlightened by iridescences at chest level. The great remiges have a golden yellow edging, and are a darker green than the rest of the body. The feet are dark horn-colored.
Sexing : The female is similar to the male, but the blue is less intense. However, this applies only within on subspecies, and due to hybridization, this is not longer very visible. The lower body is tinted with chamois brown, the rump, sub-tail feathers and tail are brown red. The best evidence is the song of the male, that is
cont
shrilling, like the canary’s but shriller.
Offsprings : Duller than adults, with no blue on the head that is light green, lower part gray-green, the basis of the bill is light yellow.
In the wild : They live in forests and wet areas up to 2000 m. They are very rarely met at 500 meters. They became familiar with men, especially on the islands. They eat still green seeds, and also insects that fly near them. They live in small groups or pairs, sometimes alone in bamboo fields and bushes areas, often on the ground. The couple is always in contact, sending small calls. They nest in round nests, made of rough material. The female lay up to 6 white eggs. Both parents build the nest, but only the male carries the material. Chicks are fed during 6 weeks, and are tolerated by their father until the youth moulting. They were imported for the first time in 1886, the first raisings happened in 1887.
Sub-species : Erythrura t. woodfordi in Guadalcanal : face tinted mauve-blue less spread than for the modesta: the rump and the tail are more orange, the lower part paler than trichroa.;
Erythrura t. cyanofrons in Loyauté islands : more blue on the vertex, body bright green, Erythrura t. clara in Truk and Ponape : more blue on the vertex, body bright green,
Erythrura t. pelewensis in Palaw islands : bill basis wide, lower part tinted with light blue,
Erythrura t. eichorni in Bismark islands : more blue on the face, red of rump tinted with orange,
Erythrura t. sigillifera (the biggest, sometimes mistaken for the Erythrura Papuana) in New Guinea and Australia: less golden on occiput, nape and half collar, green of body more uniform;
Erythrura t. pinaiae : rump and tail more orange, in the South of Molluca as Erythrura t. modesta : face tinted with mauve-blue and
Erythrura t . sanfordi in Celebes: more blue on the face, red of rump tinted with orange.
Breeding : This lively bird seems to prefer aviaries where it can frolic easily, but some birds would prefer a quiet breeding cage, most of them being females, by the way.
Note that two males cannot be kept together during the raising season, and that they would try to mate with any other bird. They nest in exotic nests, the female may lay up to 9 eggs, fecundated by a male, just to eager to mate. The chicks leave the nest after 3 weeks, and are fed for 3 more weeks.
Food : millet sprays, mixture for exotic with addition of canary seeds, bird food during raising season, live food can be given, but is not compulsory, apple.
They therefore need crushed oyster shells or grit in seed mixtures, or in a separate plate to stay in good condition.
Mutations : Lutino, pied, sea-green (those mutations surely result from couplings with a Red-throated parrot finch)