Aussie Finches

[MsDeville]

I came home from SpeedB.A.G. 2010 and was greeted by a nest full of baby Gouldian Finches (native to Australia, I believe)! It was pretty exciting. I have heard they are hard to breed in the US.

We've been trying to find a good mate for our male finch, and we finally found a female who was interested in him!

This is a very short video of one of the finches. He's still unsteady on his legs.
The babies are a little drab-looking, but when they mature, WOW, their feathers are nearly every color in the rainbow. Gorgeous little birds. We have dedicated a wall of our family room windows to a big indoor aviary. In the summertime we open a window to let them fly out to the attached outdoor aviary. It's a pretty sweet set-up for our feathered friends...

[metaldad]

Nice!! Now let's get 'em baggin'!

[Roc Stone]

[Speedbag]

I came home from SpeedB.A.G. 2010 and was greeted by a nest full of baby Gouldian Finches (native to Australia, I believe)! It was pretty exciting. I have heard they are hard to breed in the US.

We've been trying to find a good mate for our male finch, and we finally found a female who was interested in him!

This is a very short video of one of the finches. He's still unsteady on his legs.
The babies are a little drab-looking, but when they mature, WOW, their feathers are nearly every color in the rainbow. Gorgeous little birds. We have dedicated a wall of our family room windows to a big indoor aviary. In the summertime we open a window to let them fly out to the attached outdoor aviary. It's a pretty sweet set-up for our feathered friends...

Pretty birds - And that is a cool song to Punch Drum with.

[MsDeville]

Nice!! Now let's get 'em baggin'!

I'll have to build an itty bitty speed bag platform...

An incident shortly after they fledged was a near disaster. I had climbed in to the outdoor aviary and didn't notice that the door had fallen open. One of the little guys made a break for it... I didn't even see which direction he flew off in. I was in a panic, of course. Mainly because I would have to answer to my HUGE animal-lover, Trainer Raul!

I sat out in the back yard all afternoon, waiting to hear it chirp or fly back to the aviary. The next afternoon, we were sitting in the living room and all of a sudden, a little bird flew up to the screened window! It was the little guy! We ran out and followed him around the house until he finally ran out of steam and coasted to the ground outside the aviary. We were able to scoop him up.

The bad thing is, he was gone too long. Mom and Dad have rejected him. I think it might be instinct. Maybe they felt he would "contaminate" the others in some way after being out in the wilds of our wooded backyard ... Eventually, one of his siblings took over and regurgitates food to help feed him! Amazing! They have begun eating on their own now, and Raul is also hand-feeding this little "free-spirited" fledgling.

[MsDeville]

Cool bird. Australia is such an amazing continent with all of its unique wildlife. Would love to travel there some day. Maybe when we have an international Speed Bag convention, eh? Now, that would be waaay cool!

[MsDeville]

Pretty birds - And that is a cool song to Punch Drum with.

I've been trying to punch-drum to that song for months. It's pretty slow, but it's been a favorite song of mine for years... and I've wanted to do a shout-out to Geronimo hitting to this... need more practice before that happens ...

[Tim]

I came home from SpeedB.A.G. 2010 and was greeted by a nest full of baby Gouldian Finches (native to Australia, I believe)! It was pretty exciting. I have heard they are hard to breed in the US.

We've been trying to find a good mate for our male finch, and we finally found a female who was interested in him!

This is a very short video of one of the finches. He's still unsteady on his legs.
The babies are a little drab-looking, but when they mature, WOW, their feathers are nearly every color in the rainbow. Gorgeous little birds. We have dedicated a wall of our family room windows to a big indoor aviary. In the summertime we open a window to let them fly out to the attached outdoor aviary. It's a pretty sweet set-up for our feathered friends...

Wow, they are beautiful. That whole indoor/outdoor aviary thing sounds really cool as well.

[Speedbag]

I've been trying to punch-drum to that song for months. It's pretty slow, but it's been a favorite song of mine for years... and I've wanted to do a shout-out to Geronimo hitting to this... need more practice before that happens ...

A nice smooth syncopated punching speed. Use the 5-1, 3-3 and single fist pass to double punch. They will work fine. hear it in your head first. Do those combo's alone on the bag, get the beat in your head. than match the beat to the song in your head. Your hands will soon follow. no problem.

and yes - you CAN do it!

[MsDeville]

Thanks!

A nice smooth syncopated punching speed. Use the 5-1, 3-3 and single fist pass to double punch. They will work fine. hear it in your head first. Do those combo's alone on the bag, get the beat in your head. than match the beat to the song in your head. Your hands will soon follow. no problem.

and yes - you CAN do it!

... you know... I think I CAN do it! I just air punched to the video... cool. Thanks, Alan!

[Roc Stone]

All's well that ends well.