Many of you will have received the email this morning from Birdlife regarding the extinction of the southern race of the Star Finch, Neochmia ruficauda ruficauda. It occurred to me to wonder if there are any aviary birds. I had relatives
who kept and bred aviary birds. I am aware, of course, that trapping finches has contributed to their decline although I know my uncles were ethical about that and taught me only ever to have aviary-bred birds. I dabbled a bit myself as a boy but have not
had a caged bird for 65 years. However, back then Star Finches were among my favourites. I recall that we had several colours and that Uncle Jack had a pure-breeding aviary of browner Star Finches with larger spots, which I now think could have been N.r.r.
He called them the NSW Star Finch. So I did a very small piece of research and I discover that Finch breeding enthusiasts doubt that there is any pure N.r.r. strain left.
I was pleased to note, however, that the serious aviary societies are now trying to be as ethical as possible in not breeding different races together and that they are aware of their responsibility to maintain pure breeding stocks so that
finches etc may be able to be reintroduced. It is a pity that no N.r.r remain in the aviary world although it surprises me. I guess in the last 60 years, no one kept them pure in the race for different coloured mutations. To read about aviary ethics and
responsible breeding, and what rarities are still held in aviaries, here is a link.
https://www.naturallyforbirds.com.au/keep-your-sub-species-pure
