I was very privileged to visit Northern Australia during this past July. This beautiful and vast region, particularly the Kimberley of Western Australia is home to 11 species of finch commonly held in aviaries in Australia and overseas.  Here in the Philippines the most commonly held finches: zebras, Gouldians, owls, shaft-tailed, mask and stars all call this region home along with the crimson, painted firetail and three species of munias namely the chestnut breasted, yellow rumped and pictorella. Figure 1 shows a map of the Kimberley region from the Shire of Derby and since the insert includes the Philippines it illustrates just how vast this region is and reading the fine print shows how unpopulated it is - in spite of the army of retired Australians pulling their caravans (trailer homes) in gleaming 4WD vehicles (SUVs) which overrun the region during the during the dry season.

Figure 1. Location of the Kimberly region of Western Australia home to the worlds favorite finches. Map from Shire of Derby.

During July, 2008 my family joined the throng and went camping in what was until recently considered a remote and inaccessible region.  The beauty of the region is expressed in it landscape and the flora and fauna and I can not recommend the place highly enough. For finches the best place I’ve ever been to is around Wyndham which is located at 15.4872°S, 128.1247°E at 11m elevation AMSL (Figure 1).  Manila on the other hand is Latitude: 14.58, 120.98 and 16m AMSL.  A detailed map of the Kimberly can be found on the site of the West Coast 4X4 Club ’s site.

Landscape

Figure 2 (L). Looking down on a plain of spinifex (Triodia spp) hummocks from the rim of Wolfe Creek Crater. Figure 3 (R). Boab (Adisonia gregorii) trees amongst the spear grass along Parry Creek near Wyndham

The Kimberley landscape is hewn from some of the oldest sedimentary rocks the world. Brilliant red sandstone and grey limestone deposits have been worn away over millennia by the regions torrential rains to form beautiful gorges and permanent water holes. Bizarre formations like the domes of the Purnululu or Bungle Bungles ranges and the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Impact Crater (Figure 2) are worthy of World Heritage status.

The vegetation where the majority of the finches occur is tropical monsoonal savannah and arid grasslands.  There are other types of vegetation near the coast, along streams and sheltering in the spectacular rock chasms but these don’t really support finch population in the same way.  That said no finches are more than 1-2km from water as they must drink every day even those species found in the desert such as the zebra and painted firetail.  The quintessential Kimberley landscape is dotted with corpulent boab trees (Adansonia gregorii) above an understorey of spear grass (Heteropogon triticeus) (Figure 3).  On the drier hill-sides and in the arid interior, spiny mounds of spinifex grass (Triodia spp.) abound and softens the harsh land (Figure 2).  Both these grasses provide essential seed sources for many finches.

Climate

The most overwhelming thing is that the Kimberly is that it so dry and then you also realize the seasons are six months out of synchronization with the Philippines. A comparison of the average climate figure for Wyndham and Manila (tables 1a,b) show that Wyndham’s annual average rainfall is only half of that of Manila and while 1086 mm is not trivial, it is highly seasonal with no rain at all falling in August. In almost all months Wyndham’s evaporation far exceeds precipitation but is just about even in Manila, which certainly explains why my house here is so mouldy and why I read that finches are susceptible to aspergillosis or other fungal diseases in their respiratory systems.  Since Wyndham and Manila are within one absolute degree of latitude, day-lengths are similar but the intensity of light is much higher in Australia. The daily average in Manila is 19 MJ/m² and goes as low as 14.2 MJ/m² in November but in Wyndham the average is 22 MJ/m² but doesn’t often fall below18.7 MJ/m². In the Philippines heat stress can be problem nearly all year due to a combination of heat and high humidity - anything over 27^oC and 65% RH is considered to be uncomfortable for people. Birds are more efficient at losing heat due to their small size and efficient respiratory system but they are not immune to its effects and most birds will become inactive and seek shelter humidity over 80% RH or 36^oC.

Table 1a. Average climate statistics for Manila taken from the BBC and the estimate of the incident solar radiation from research published by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).Temperatures represent extreme values.

Table 1b. Average climate statistics for Wyndham from Weatherzone and represents 40 years of data. Temperatures represent extreme values.

 What do I make of this? The Kimberly finches held in the Philippines should be housed completely undercover to keep them dry and the roofing material should be transparent to let in as much light as possible in the flight part of any aviary. If your birds are inside in cage or cabinet they may need supplementary vitamin D. Thermal stress can be relieved by providing birds with adequate shelter, water baths and in aviaries misting jets are recommended by the Northern Territory Avicultural Society.  Of course if you keep your birds indoors some keepers give their birds five star treatment outfitting their bird-rooms with computerised climate control systems.  In the wet tropics, humidity should be kept to a minimum by keeping plants away from aviaries and perhaps even paving around them and widening the roof eaves is a good idea.  Except in the relatively wet “dry season” here in the Philippines, dried brushwood in the shelter of my aviary becomes damp and mouldy so it is necessary to replace it 2-3 times a year.  The dirt floor on my aviary isn’t looking such a great idea now but it only rarely gets wet and I still like a few plants in the aviary for aesthetic reasons.

Surprisingly against most things I’ve read about the temperature preferences of tropical Australian finches, they must be adapted to temperatures at least down to 9^oC as this is what is encountered by them in the wild.   Having camped away from the coast, in prime Gouldian country, I can guarantee that they aren’t as temperature sensative as many northern hemisphere aviculturists think.

Finding Finches

Nowhere have seen so many species in a relatively small area as is found around Wyndham. A cheap place to stay and good place to find finches is the Parry Creek Farm where you are assured of seeing owls, masked and shaft-tails and at various times crimson, stars and the munias (yellow- rumped, chestnut breasted and pictorella).  If you’re into water-birds then the nearby Marlgu Billabong and the rest of the Parry Creek wetlands are spectacular but watch out for crocodiles if you go near any water in the Kimberley. Another good spot is the pond behind the Dreamtime statues in Wyndham’s Warriu park where you can might see all the Kimberly finches except for the painted firetail which is more at home in the arid interior.  I saw my painted firetails entering the Purnululu National Park  where you can view the spectacular Bungle Bungle ranges. Within Purnululu National Park I also saw owls, masked and shaft-tailed finches.

Owl Finches

Figure 4. Black rumped owl finch in the feed hopper at bird feeding station of Parry Creek Farm camp.  The chicken wire is to keep out the zebra (peaceful) doves that would otherwise take all the food

You are unlikely to miss the black-rumped owl (called double bars in Australia) finch anywhere in northern Australia.  These birds aren’t particularly common in Australian aviculture but they are common even in suburban Darwin.  In southern Australia, where both white-rumped race and myself hail from, these birds love nesting in prickly vegetation (Bursaria spinosa, Rosa spp, Rubis spp.) and often site their nest next to a paper-nest wasp colony for protection.  The young love congregating with their old nest mates after fledging each night which made them easy to catch at dusk but you had to be careful that their nest wasn’t guarded by wasps!  Their gregarious nature makes them more suited to colony breeding than kept as pairs.  These birds were the most common finch at the feeding station at Parry Creek Farm.

Zebra Finches

Zebras are the most widespread species in Australia and so I wasn’t surprised to find a pair visiting the waterhole in the Warriu park in Wyndham one evening.  At the end of the dry season they can form huge flocks so like the owl is seems a shame to keep them as separate pairs but their productivity is such that they aren’t alone for long.

Shaft-tailed Finches

Figure 5. Shaft tailed finch resting in the picnic hut at Parry Creek Farm camp. Notice that the bird here carries a band even though it is free.

These are another common finch up north where they typically are the yellow-billed form commonly called the long-tail in Australian aviculture. These birds were seen gathering white feathers and so were assumed to be nesting. I have often seen references to the importance of providing white down feathers for finches and it is true that they favor them in the wild.  In my aviary they gladly accept a vegetarian alternative (kapok or seed heads from Imperata or other grasses).  There is a recent article on keeping these finches in the 2008 Aug-Sept Issue of Australian Bird Keeper magazine.

Masked Finches

Figure 6 Masked finch drinking at the bird feeding station of the Parry Creek Farm camp.

Masked finches and their close relative the Shaft-tail are commonly seen in mixed flocks around the Kimberley.  A peculiar habit of this bird is that collects charcoal which it places in it’s nest to improve hygiene.  Every morning at the Parry Creek Farm camp I noticed masked finches foraging in the ashes of our camp-fire collecting charcoal.  Most commercial grits in Australia include charcoal as it also has medicinal properties (absorbing plant toxins) so I have always included it in my mix here not that I presently keep masks.  Given how quickly nests become fowled here in the Philippines due to the humidity encouraging birds to do this should be considered.  I’m amazed that the ammonia smell coming from a full nest of cut-throats doesn’t kill them.

Gouldian Finches

Figure 7. A male Gouldian shares a drink with some crested pigeons from the pond in Warriu park behind the Dreamtime statues in Wyndham.

When I was a child Gouldians inhabited the northern part of Australia in huge numbers and wild birds were legally harvested in their thousands. Today is a different matter and it appears on the UNCN Red List and I had to celebrate the fact that I saw a single male visiting the waterhole in the Warriu park in Wyndham one evening.  There I met another aviculturist from Maitland in the Hunter Valley (NSW) who told me that had I been there at midday I would have seen a flock of about 40.  This flock was composed of 12 adults and the remainder were juveniles.  Unfortunately now for wild Gouldians, individuals seldom survive their second year so the remaining flock are mainly uncoloured juveniles.  Another interesting point was that there were only 2 red-faced individuals amongst the adults.  Research by Dr Sarah Pryke and the Save the Gouldian Fund has shown the only stable flock composition is to have 10% red and 1% yellow-headed amongst the black-headed morphs.  This later information is not likely to affect cage breeders but those hoping to colony breed in aviaries need to be mindful of this number as the aggression of the red-headed morph will lower breeding success. If you want to read more try Dr Pryke’s papers from the Save The Gouldian Fund ’s record.    

There have been a number of studies into the diet of wild Gouldians in the NT since the late 1980s. From this work it is clear that Gouldians feed almost exclusively on spear grass seeds (also known as sorghum) in the dry season and then switch to a small number of wet season grasses once spear grass seed becomes unavailable early in the wet season. The favoured wet season grasses in the Yinberrie Hills are cockatoo grass (Alloteropsis semialata), golden beard grass (also known as ribbon grass: Chrysopogon fallax) and curly spinifex (Triodia bitextura). Gouldians rarely supplement this diet with insects – even in times when seed reserves are low. Their restricted diet makes them vulnerable to seed shortages through the wet season, and it may be that population fluctuations relate to the availability of seed in this critical period. You can read more about this from the Gouldian finch recovery team.

Painted Fire-Tail Finches

Figure 8 Painted firetail (Emblema picta) from Queensland taken from Birdway.

I saw small flocks (families?) of this birds in the rocky areas amongst the spinifex driving into Purnululu National Park. The painted fire-tailed finch is a relative of the diamond fire-tail but is much easier to keep and breed - so if anyone is importing then make life easier for the keepers here and ask for this bird. A peculiarity of this bird is that it often nests in the spiny spinifex close to the ground and where it constructs a platform of small stones, charcoal and sticks as a base for it’s nest. There is a good article about painted in the Jul-Aug 2008 issue of Australian Aviay Life magazine.

Crimson Finches

Figure 9. Black bellied race of the crimson finch and its young in the main street of Wyndham.

 The crimson or blood finch is seldom far from water but even so I was surprised to find it in the main street of Wyndham.  A relative of the peaceful star finch it has a totally different temperament in the aviary where it will commonly harass and kill other finches particularly those with any red in their plumage.  Crimsons also occur along the eastern n coast of far north Queensland and into New Guinea but those birds have white bellies.  Not many people keep these birds in Australia because of their aggressive habits but they may not be as bad as some keepers say (Issue#5, Just Finches and Softbills magazine).  Typically crimsons are seen in reedy swamps or in pandanus or the edges of sugarcane plantations.

Star Finches

I got only the briefest glimpse of stars as we drove from Parry Creek Farm on the old Kununurra road. I did see the birds kept by the Northern Territory Wildlife Park. Their birds were housed in large aviaries and utilized 1″ welded mesh cylinders as nesting structures filling them with fine grasses.  I haven’t tried this yet but I do encourage them to make their own nests but as yet I haven’t got them to raise young because generations of foster imprinting has robbed my stars of this most natural of behaviors.

Conclusion

Figure 10. A roadside flock of short-billed corellas along to the road to Wyndham near the Gibb River Rd (El Questro) turnoff.

Finches aren’t the only birds in the Kimberley so other keepers and bird watchers would enjoy it too. I saw various flocks of cockatoos (red-tailed black, yellow-tailed black, suphur-crested, corellas, galahs and cockateils) rainbow lorikeets, red-winged parrots, and budgies to name a few.  Observing the wild birds of the Kimberley gave me some valuble unsights into the birds I keep and I’d well recommend the trip for any finch aviculturist that can get there.   For those that can’t I hope that this article will encourage you to think about wher your birds come from and that it encourages everyone try to enrich the lives of your birds by giving you some knowledge of how to improve your birds environment and by encourageing natural behaviours.

It is a shame that here in the Philippines we can no longer see great flocks of native cockatoos like the corellas of the Kimberleys (Figure 10).  If you keep birds like this, it is imperative that you breed from them and not just collect trophy specimens and this will be my topic for my next Finchme story if the site remains up and the hopefully spammed viagra and porn posts will be removed.