|
I also dont agree
There is a lot of variation amongst captive birds. Immelman
was here for one year so probably didnt have time to observe all the variation
amongst wild or captive birds.
Since the early 90s the show standard was changed to
pure white underneath and show birds were selected for that
feature.
Also
Black tail coverts are features of black front and some
blackface mutations, and the extent can vary. But the feather does look
partially missing, perhaps regrowing to me.
The pale four or five feathers on the back could indicate
pied, but can also occur in pure greys.
I wouldnt say certainly 'wild type grey' but probably
is.
Not many people have pure greys, so that does reduce the
probability of captive birds.
It seems suss to me that they have hung out in the
same area for 2 years, relatively close to the suburbs, which suggests escapees
to me, for Zebra finches. If they are the same birds as reported
previously.
Benj
There are lots of colour variants in captivity but
this picture certainly shows a wild type bird, so that doesn't prove either way.
This bird appears to only have one upper tail covert, so hardly shows the barred
pattern on top of the tail. Zebra Finches have unusually long upper tail coverts
(not as much as chickens and peacocks) and these are barred. The tail appears to
be barred but it isn't.
This is what Immelmann's book says about the
differences (I'm not sure how helpful this is):
Wild birds
Domestic ones
Red
eyes dark
brown eyes
pale brownish grey
above ashy
brown above
Females are as white below as
are males Females
are pale creamy buff below
(but HANZAB doesn't
agree)
Philip
| 