Barbara Allan raised the ID of an apparent
escapee reported by one of her inquiring public. Cagebirds are really in
the territory of Benj and Philip. However, I think
I more or less got the described bird in those couple of pics from the
wild-bird literature. The L/hand bird is a Fody from Aldabra, and the
R/hand one a different species (or perhaps a closely related species) from Madagascar.
I confess to having labeled them wrongly.
Both are males, and neither is that other well-known Fody, F madagascariensis. These particular
birds, or hybrids or more or less the same species, are known in the trade as ‘Comoro
Weavers’.
I find it interesting that in Aldabra
(near but not part of the actual Comoros) the local name of the male
of the species is ‘Cardinal’ and that of the female ‘Serin’,
these being the names elsewhere of quite different species. It makes one
wonder whether the innocent Aldabrans are fully aware, like your sophisticated
Aussie Fody-enthusiast, where little Comoro Weavers come from.
From: John Layton
[
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006
12:44 PM
To: Geoffrey
Dabb
Subject: Fodys
Have fodys been seen on the lam locally, or am my missing something?
