Re: Painted Finch north of Jerilderie, NSW Riverina,

["Kurtis Lindsay" <>]

Hi all,

Morcombe says that Painted Finches are highly nomadic. What does HANZAB say?
I don't know how likely it is for a pair of nomadic Northern-Australian 
finches to fly to NSW and breed, at the same time I don't know how unlikely 
it is either so I'm not going to rule it out.
However, this species is sold in pet shops and aviaries throughout NSW, and 
aviculturalists don't require a license to keep and breed them. A quick 
search of local aviary classifieds show that a breeding pair of Painted 
Finches or Emblema's as theyre most commonly known in bird keeping circles 
can sell for as little as $25! 
(www.petlink.com.au/Classifieds/sale/966620.html)
It seems pretty unlikely that a pair of Painted Finches have both escaped 
from a captive situation and have managed to safely make it to suitable 
grassland habitat to settle down and breed. So I'm suggesting another 
theory, that perhaps someone has released these birds her deliberately?
Kurtis Lindsay