Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia) [XC643291]
by Peter Boesman from , Australia (call, flight call)
Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) [XC609011]
by Marc Anderson from , Australia (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Throughout the year but mainly August - March.
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Nest
Domed, with a side-entrance, composed of dried grasses and lined with feathers or other soft materials, in a low bush, in vines or shrubs, in hollow limbs or holes in trees, in houses or sheds or even in rabbit burrows.
Eggs (Guide)
4 - 5 or 7; pure white; oval; about 15 x 11 mm. Incubation: about 12 - 14 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 15 - 16 days.
Subspecies
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
guttata (Vieillot, 1817) - Western and eastern Lesser Sundas.
castanotis (Gould, 1837) - Throughout inland Australia from southern Cape York Peninsula and the Kimberley Divide south to central Vic., Murray - Mallee, Adelaide Plains and upper Yorke and Eyre Peninsula, SA, Nullarbor Plain and southern Wheatbelt of WA, and from the western slopes of the Great Divide and upper Dawson - Mackenzie Ranges Drainage Basin, central - eastern Qld, west to the coast round Bunbury north to King Sound, south-western Kimberley Divide. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Australian Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia castanotis).
Similar Species
Southern Whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis) which has a smaller bill, a distinct black band across lower whitish breast and lacks any barring on the tail. From calls only with contact call of White-fronted Chat (Epthianura albifrons) and song and several calls of Double-barred Finch (Taeniopygia bichenovii).
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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