Help with identification

[josoll]

Hi All,Went to an auction last night and got a weaver being sold as Orange weaver hen,its a big bird bigger than my male ,so have taken a couple of pics to see if identity can be verified. Also i have taken a couple of one i got from Petz the other week as it was the odd one out in the cage,if anyone can identify it(although it dosent stop still very long in the show cage:razz: ).

[josoll]

Hi All 10 views yet no replies:( ,i hope my pics are not that bad. The cock prefers the bigger of the hens, but dont want to attempt breeding unlesss she's the right one for him.

[Waxbillman]

hello Jo

the weaver man should be able to tell you, or failing that Paul

trying to identify hens, not especially easy. the one on the right is is a red billed qualea hen?

Matthew

[laurab]

Hi Jo

I think the 3rd picture is of a Red-billed Quelea. The hen you have is much more difficult to identify as there is a possibility it could be a hen Whydah/Widowbird.

Do you have a photo of your cock Weaver? Is it possible that you have a Zanzibar Weaver?

[josoll]

Hi Laura,The cock is one of the two i posted pics of last year,def orange bishop. The hen was sold with a cock canary:roll: ,but a friend wanted the canary so we went halves:-P ,because i thought that if its of no use to me,there might be someone in the weaver breeding program who could use it,rather than her going to waste,which is the same reason i got the red billed one from Petz.I did wonder if it was a red billed quela.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Jo,

As has already been stated, identifying hen Weavers and Whydahs is very tricky as some are very similar not only in colour but size as well, and to make matters even worse some Weaver Species will freely hybridise.:roll:

My guess though would be that you may have Grenadier Weavers which are slightly larger than the Red Bishop, but another that is slightly larger than the Grenadier is the Fire Crowned/Black Winged Weaver.

But as Laura said it could be even worse because they could even be a Whydah Species?

Paul.:neutral:

[chris]

Hi All,

sorry i haven't replied sooner, i did read the topic but had to rush off and forgot to get back to it.

the one on the right doesn't look like a red billed quelea due to the red eye ring it has, as this is absent in the red billed quelea. http://www.kenyabirds.org.uk/quel-f.htm

It could be the red headed quelea as both would appear to have the red/orange eye ring and are similar in appearance, however i have only seen photos of cock birds, and these have darker beaks so whether hens have an orange beak i don't know.

the other possibility would be a whydah, although i have had a search and didn't find a match, not every species has a photo to go with it on the net so it's a possibility that can't be ruled out.

anyone got a good weaver/whydah book?

Chris

[laurab]

Hi Chris

I have a book called Cage & Aviary Birds by Mark Martin (thanks to Paul ;) )
and it does show a red ring around the eye of a Red-billed Quelea :!: :???:

[kenny]

hi laura
i have that book and so does matt and you are right ,but i was looking at the size of the tail of the hen and it is very whydahish

ken

[chris]

Hi Laura,

in that case it probably is a red billed quelea, i just have a dodgy photo:lol:

sorry for the confusion

Chris;)