. Red crested cardinal
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- Scientific Name: Paroaria coronata
- Common Name/s: RED
CRESTED CARDINAL, BRAZILIAN CARDINAL.
- Sub Species in country / area of origin: None
- Origin / Distribution: South
eastern portion of South America.
- Habitat In Wild: They have
adapted well to farmlands and urban areas.
- Status In Wild:
Secure.
- Status In (Australian) Captivity:
Very few breeding pairs left in Australia. Numbers seem to be
declining.
- Age To Sexual Maturity:
?
- Adult plumage: attained at about 6
months.
- Best breeding years (estimate):
2 years onwards and may breed till 10
years of age.
- Lifespan (estimate): Long lived -
15 years or more.
- Sexing: Monomorphic
/ Dimorphic .. Surgical or DNA sexing is usually
necessary.
- Mutations: None known
- Availability: Extremely rare.
Small gene pool. Specialist breeders only.
- Temperament: Active, non
aggressive if one pair per large planted aviary.
- Cost (Victoria) Per Pair: -Normal colour (Approx.) $2500
- $3000
- Description Of Adults:
- Length: Approx. 175 - 190 mm (or about
7 - 8 inches)
- Colour ("normal" colour): Refer
photo/s above if available.
- Weight: Approx. 30-35 gms (or about 1.5 ozs)
Note from Frank: Probable the most
attractive bird I have kept and they used to have great character and
personality.
Aviary Notes:
Read
notes on "Finches - Non Australian" web page
and use in conjunction with details
outlined on this page.
Level Of Knowledge Required:
Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced /
Specialist Breeders Only.
Government Regulations &
By-Laws: Refer to "Government Laws"
web page.
Housing Requirements:
Click on "Housing birds"
web page for general details on the housing
of Non Australian Finches or read on for specific details for this finch.
Should only be housed in a well
planted aviary.
The birds benefit from having a well planted
aviary as it provides a degree of privacy and security for the birds.
Aviary size should be about 3 metres (about 10 feet) long and at least 900 -
1000mm wide (about 3 - 3.5 feet). A "typical" planted softbill aviary of
up to 1500mm (about 5 feet) wide could be beneficial.
To maximize breeding results,
the Cardinals should not not be housed with any other birds.
May be kept with other finches in a very large planted aviary but with their rarity in Australian
aviaries it would be best to give each pair an aviary of their own.
Cardinal pairs are not separated during the non-breeding season.
Diet / Feeding:
Click on "Feeding birds"
web page for general details on the
nutrition of Non Australian Finches or read on for specific details for this
finch.
Require a good quality finch seed mix, seeding grasses, live foods
and some fruits (e.g. apple) and some vegetables. Sprouted or soaked seed if available.
Basic seed mix should include Canary
seed, White French Millet, Japanese Millet, and Yellow and Red Panicum.
The young grow very fast and require a variety of insects for good breeding
results. Mealworms, crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, cockroaches/woodroaches, slaters,
silk worms, fly larvae
and other suitable insects should be offered to the birds.
The mealworm larvae, pupa and beetle stages can be offered.
Some breeders capture moths and release the moths into the aviary.
The adult birds may "hawk" or catch some of the moths while the moth is
flying around the aviary. The other moths will be hunted down at a
later time.
As with most larger softbills, the insects are killed and fed whole to
the young.
These birds are large softbills and may require 2 kilograms of insects
to raise each clutch of young.
Quality commercial softbill food mixes
can be a supplement to the livefoods.
In the past, provided the adults had
access to sufficient insects, they were generally very good parents and
had a high fledging rate. This has changes in recent years with
many pairs producing poor results each year. This may be a result
of the small gene pool remaining in Australia.
Nesting:
A basic overview only.
- Roosting nest:
No
- Nesting months: Spring
to Autumn
- Nesting receptacles:
Will build a cup shaped nest in a shrub or dry brush. Equally
it will build a nest in a variety of open cupped artificial nests.
- Nest: They build a cup
shaped nest out of grasses, coconut fibre, short pieces of teased
natural hessian and other
materials. Nest may be lined
with feathers, soft materials and soft fine grasses. Coconut
fibre is a favourite for many birds. The nest is not large
compared to its body size.
- Who incubates the eggs:
Hen / cock / both share.
Some Cardinals reuse the nest for
subsequent clutches but others will build a new nest. Adequate new
nest material must be available for the birds to refurbish the old nest
or build a new nest for the next clutch.
More details on finch nests
and a selection of finch nest photos
can be located on the "nests", "finch nests"
and "finch nest photos"
web pages. Click on "Up" then "nests" then
"finch nests" and "finch nests photos" in
the navigation bars.
Breeding:
Egg Colour Greyish with spots.
Clutch/s
per year 2 - 3. Eggs per nest 2 - 4. Incubation
approx. 14 days. Fledge approx. 14 - 18 days.
Independent approx. another 3 - 5 weeks.
First official breeding in South
Australia was in 1931 by H. Mansfield.
First official breeding of the Green Cardinal in South Australia was in
1935 by S. Harvey.
Both parents feed the young.
As with many birds, pairing up young
birds should maximize the breeding results.
Results in recent years have not been
very productive. Breeding pairs may be more productive if they are
housed well away from any other pairs of Cardinals. Although it is
easy to look into the nest, nest inspections are generally not
tolerated and the hen will leave the nest at the slightest hint of the
owner approaching.
Nest inspection should be kept to a
minimum and done with great care. As with other expensive/rare
birds, the instillation of a small modern colour camera may be of great
benefit and make observation safer and easier. Most modern mini
cameras are relatively inexpensive and most have infrared capability.
Most can be attached to a recording device such as a computer or video
recorder.
The installation of a mini colour
observation video camera should only be done during the non-breeding
season. This would allow the nest to be monitored without
disturbing the parent birds while they are nesting.
Artificial incubation, hand rearing or fostering will not be
covered on this web site. It is too complex and diverse in nature to be
attempted here. Refer "Specific References" as listed below and
"General References" listings.
Health Issues:
Refer "Avian Health Issues"
web page for information and references.
- Worming and parasite control and Quarantine
requirements of new birds or sick birds are considered to
require veterinary advice and therefore not covered on this web
site. Refer above option - "Avian Health Issues"
web page.
- Avian medicine is advancing at a rapid pace. Keep
updating your knowledge and skills.
General References:
Refer to references listed on "Book
References" web page.
Specific References:
- Australian Aviculture
- A/A Vol 47 No. 12 Dec 1993 Page 284-290 (Inc photo)
- A/A Vol 31 No. 9 Sept 1977 Page
130-133 (Inc photo)
- A/A Vol 16 No 1 Jan 1962 Page 2-3, 12-15 (Inc colour plate).
- A/A Vol 3 No 8 Aug 1949 Page 86 (First SA breeding).
- A/A Vol 2 No 10 Oct 1948 Page 77-78.
- The Bulletin No 24, Oct 1944 Page 6 - 7 (Loss of plumage
colour).
- The Bulletin No 23, Sept 1944 Page 2 - 3 (Loss of colour in
plumage).
- The Bulletin No 7, Apr 1943 Page 4 (Virginian Cardinal).
- The Bulletin No 5, Feb 1943 Page 3
(Green Cardinal).
- Australian Birdkeeper
- ABK Vol 4 Issue 7. Feb-Mar 1991 Page 305-308
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