GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Quail finch is part of the group Passeriformes (Perching Birds), the family Estrildidae (Waxbills), and genus Ortygospiza. The species Ortygospiza Atricollis is the African Quail Finch, and breaks down into the following sub-species located as follows: 

O.a. ansorgei - Guinea to Ivory Coast 

O.a. atricollis - Senegal to Chad, N Zaire 

O.a. bradfieldi - N Namibia 

O.a. digressa - SE Zambia, Transvaal, Natal, Cape Province 

O.a. fuscocrissa - Ethiopia 

O.a. miniscula - NW Zambia 

O.a. muelleri - S Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi 

O.a. pallida - Botswana, Rhodesia 

O.a. smithersi - NE Zambia 

O.a. ugandae - S Sudan, Uganda, W Kenya

These Finches falls into two groups: the Eastern Quail Finch (O.a. muelleri and O.a. fuscocrissa) and the Western Quail Finch, which take up the other sub-species. The main difference between these two groups is the white eye-ring that's present in the Eastern subspecies.

Male: This bird is a brown grey colour, with a black mask covering the forehead, face and throat, though there is a small white patch below the mandible. The tail and wing coverts are of a darker brown grey. The breast is lightly barred with white, whilst on the flanks the barring is more marked. The bill is red during the breeding season, though the upper mandible changes to black when not breeding. The feet are a dusky fleshy colour with a long, lark-like hind claw.

Female: She is paler than the male, without the black mask and when not breeding her upper mandible turns dark brown.

Size: 95-100 mm.

In the wild the birds prefer to live on grassland near water, swampland and tussock grass. They feed upon small seeds from the ground, and are eager for live food during the breeding season. The Quail Finch has developed along the lines of true ground birds, although contrary to popular belief do perch on branches. When approached, initial response is to crouch and "freeze", when flushed it raises straight into the air then drops to ground nearby, just like Quail. When these birds are acclimatised they are quite hardy and will thrive quite well.

The Quail Finch nests on the ground in grass tussocks and lay 4-6 small white eggs (similar in size to the red checked cordon-blue's) these are incubated by both parents in turn, though mainly the female. Incubation takes 14 days, fledging occurs in 19-20 days, and the youngsters are independent at 30 days.

MY QUAIL FINCHES

My pair of Quail finches was bought in April 2003, for all the wrong reasons, mainly because I felt "sorry" for them. After a short quarantine period in an indoor (unheated) flight cage the birds were transferred to the mixed aviary.

During the rest of 2003 the birds settled in, and although the odd egg was found on the aviary floor, parentage was not identified. The beginning of the 2004 season saw nest building by the pair using coconut fibre on the base in a corner of the indoor flight, to assist them, and myself for cleaning purposes a canary nest pan and fibre mat was fixed just, ¼" off the base. The nest pan was used and an enclosed nest was built and lined using waste cotton etc. A number of eggs were laid during the season, and the nests abandoned, occasionally with fertile eggs in development.

The 2005 season saw a nest built in the same location during the beginning of April, and eggs laid by mid April, however by the end of April the nest had been wrecked. (I know Pekin Robins are known for robbing nests, having had this pair for eight years, I am sure they are NOT egg thieves). I decided that a finch wicker basket attached to the nest pan in the same location may work, but the pair went back to building next to the nest pan, and on 3 May laid an egg. I carefully lifted the egg and nest material and placed them in the wicker basket, and the next day the hen is in the basket. During the next fortnight, no indoor cleaning was carried out, and the cock and hen were both on the nest sometimes both together, when the hen was on the nest, the cock stood outside very close. 22 May was the first time I saw both birds off the nest, but they were next to it, so I decided NOT to interfere, and left them to it. Over the next couple of days I saw the pair often off the nest, and on the 25 May I saw what turned out to be two chicks in the nest, and at the time I estimated them as 5 days old. However the two chicks fledged on 28 May, given the 14 days incubation period, and that the first egg was laid on or after 3 May, it seems they must have hatched sometime after 18 May and therefore fledged at 11 days (not what the books say). On inspection of the nest two fertile (but cold) eggs were found.

By 30 May the birds could fly quite well, but in the very uncontrolled manner as the parents did when newly purchased, and with the same type of panic. By 7 July the birds were feathering quite nicely, but still had "tufts", and their flying was "almost" controlled, so much so that one of the young flew out of the hatch around the aviary and back in through the hatch. Within a few weeks of becoming independent of the parents both chicks died within a couple of days of each other.

Young in the finch basket nest

One of the young shortly after fledging

The Adults went back to nest around 20 June 2005, 13 July 2005 five eggs were in the nest, 23 July 2005, the adults had left the nest and five eggs, the eggs were removed. During the rest of 2005 "odd" eggs were laid however, none were incubated.

In April 2006 the adults again started building a nest in the same location, however the cock was found dead in May 2006, and the nest was deserted. Unable to obtain a cock, I then sold my hen, to somebody already owning a pair, which currently has not bred.