spice finch.

[Paulf]

can anybody teel me if it would be posible to mistake bengalise for spice finch. my dad was recently given some birds in the belief that they were bengalise, but having looked at them i,m not sure . i've looked them up and and am of the opinion that they are spice finch. he has given them to me, 5 in all, and two pairs are frantically filling a nest box. any help would be great. if i could work a computer and a digital camera i would send a picture, alas that is not the case.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello Paul,

Unfortunately Bengalese Finches and Spice Birds do readily hybridise and their resulting young can confuse even experienced breeders regarding their true identity!

The fact that there are at least 13 sub species of the Spice Finch also makes it extremely difficult to identify true Spice Finches from Bengalese hybrids.:roll:

If you could find someone who could take some photos for you and post them on here on your behalf then I'm sure the members here will help you in identifying the birds you have there.

Paul.;-)

[Paulf]

that would explain it then. there were bengalese in the aviary they came from, and i have noticed that one of them is rather fawn looking. they are nesting and seem to hold there own with the zebra finch's in there. any special requirments for them? i'll see if my son can sort out a picture. cheers