Green Singing Finch
Serinus Mozambicus
ORIGIN
They inhabit semi-arid regions of tall scrub and forest throughout central Africa preferring open spaces to dense foliage cover except for roosting at night and nesting. It is reported that they are usually found where surface water is locally available.
DIET
They feed on seeds of grasses, herbaceous plants and shrubs. They readily take insects, particularly termites and their larvae; especially when rearing young. Sometimes they will clamber up and down the stems of sturdy grasses harvesting green and half-ripe seeds, aphids or other insects.
SPECIFIC FEATURES
This finch is an aggressive species and is usually seen in pairs or small family parties. They are mature at about 4-6 months of age. Males and females may be distinguished from each other by the necklace of small round black dots around the neck of the hens. The species is slightly longer and more streamlined than other finches. Males have a very pleasant song, which is uttered frequently throughout the day.
REPRODUCTION
A small, cup-shaped structure is woven of mosses and plant fibers and lined with tiny feathers and fine animal hair. The eggs are bluish/green with fine brown lining with speckling especially heavy at the blunt end. Incubation is shared by both adults and the young hatch in about 13 days. They are raised on insects and soft seed until fledging around the end of the third week. Independent within two weeks and may stay with the parents or be driven away if a second nesting is eminent.
GREEN SINGERS IN CAPTIVITY
HABITAT DESIGN
Plenty of flight room is necessary if they are to be kept in a mixed species enclosure. They may have fatal fights if more than one pair is kept in even the largest enclosures, therefore, one to a pen is best. Provide tall growth (dwarf trees, tall, dense shrubs) for nighttime roosting and nesting.
Mixed collections should also have at least two or even three feeding stations to prevent Singers from dominating and starving out other co-habitants. They are fond of bathing, so a shallow pond or stream is a good idea. Water dishes should be cleaned daily to prevent their bathing in these fowling their systems if they also have to drink from them.
DIET
Small millets, canary grass seed, amaranth, hulled rice and oats have been taken dry, soaked, and sprouted. The latter two are especially appreciated while raising young and help to stimulate pairs to begin brooding activity. Small mealworms, ant eggs and pupae, waxworms, bee moth larvae, and termites are eagerly taken while raising young but otherwise should be limited because they are too fattening. Green food is also an important element in their diet.
BREEDING
Providing plenty of live food, soaked or germinated seed, and green food will usually induce this species so go to nest. They will build in an open canary nest, an open-fronted finch nestbox or one with a large entrance hole, a dense shrub, on a ledge, and, in one case, on a light socket. They like plenty of soft lining material and natural fiber such as kapok and short cut and shredded burlap work well for this.
Hens are easily disturbed into fleeing the nest when approached but, if used to human intrusion (regular inspections of aviary, etc.), they will return without hesitation. They are not known as deserters.
Green Singers are often hybridized with the domestic canary but there is very little likelihood of this with other commonly kept finch species.
If the enclosure is small, it is a good idea to remove the young of one clutch before the next clutch hatches to avoid possibly fatal aggression from the male. This can be when they are only a few weeks out of the nest as the hen may double or even triple clutch. The young will be self-sufficient by this time and can be housed by themselves or with young from other pairs. The young cocks will begin to loose the juvenile necklace around 4-6 months of age although they may begin to sing even earlier than that.
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