Green Singing Finch

Scientific Name: Serious mozambicus

This finch is a superb and popular, easy-to-manage song bird which is a distantrelative of the canary. It is hardy and livesfor a very long time, maybe attaining asmuch as 20 years of age.

Description:

Size: 10 to 13 cm (4 to 5 in)

COCK:

Head: grey. Neck and back: grey-green.Chin, throat and belly: yellow. Eye-brows: bright yellow with yellow patcheson sides of chin. Wings and tail: black.There is a yellow edge to some of the wingfeathers. Eyes: encircled with blackstripe. Beak and legs: cream-grey.

HEN:

Similar, but easy to distinguish since shealso sports a collar of black spots.

Diet: (Seedeater)

Plain canary seed and yellow millet formthe staple diet. Spray millet is also muchappreciated. Greenfood should be pro-vided regularly and an occasional apple isenjoyed. Grit and cuttlefish bone mustalways he available.

'This finch may be kept outside all yearround but should have a dry, frost-proofshelter in which to roost.

This species does not require a largeaviary since it is rarely seen to fly a greatdeal. If several pairs are kept, they usuallyall roost together at night on one singleperch high in the shelter.

Breeding:

Nests are built in shrubs or trees or anopen-fronted nest box. The hen is responsible for constructing the nest andincubating the eggs. The incubationperiod is 13 days. While the hen is nestbuilding and sitting, the cock perchesnearby, singing frequently. During theincubation period, he sits close by thenest like a sentry on duty.

Breeding birds should he fed plenty ofsprouted seed, grass seed and greenfood.They also benefit from finely choppedmealworms, egg and ants' eggs.

The younger are independent 21 daysafter leaving the best. The cock feeds theyoung for several weeks afterwards, but they should be removed from their pa-rents before further breeding takes place.As well as breeding with its own kind, cock may be mated with a small canary hen to produce an attractive mule.Cock and hen Green Singing Finches show little interest in remaining together after the breeding season is over. The Green Twin spot cock bird can he aggressive with its companions when breeding, but at other times is tolerant and peaceful, although there may be an occasional squabble wit hits mate out of the breeding season .Occasionally this species may be found to be suffering from sore eyes caused by wiping its face on a dirty perch. It appears short-sighted and may frequently have difficulty in finding the feed dish. Regular cleaning of perches prevents this problem.