Taxonomy/Origins: The Cuban Finch has frequently be called the Melodius Finch, Grassquit, Cuban Grassquit.
It originated from Cuba, Jamaica and islands in the area.
It can be found around the edges of villiages, open woodlands and cultivated areas..
Subspecies: To my knowledge there are no sub species but a close relative is the Olive Finch (Tiaris olivacea).
Plumage Colouration/Sexing: This little bird is possibly under 100mm and is nothing short of being a little dynamo, it is rarely still,always on the move either inspecting, defending or utalizing its territory. The Cuban Finch is dimorphic, the pair have far different feather colours and easily sexed.
The adult Male has a jet black face and beak with a canary yellow collar,the chest is black and the remaining area to the tail is grey.The back and wings are olive colour.
The adult female.the face is grey/brown and there is a pale yellow collar no where as big or as bright as the male.The breast to the underside of the tail is grey and the back and wings are olive colour.
Young resemble the female until they start to reach adult plumage in particular the young males. This takes from 4 to 6 weeks.It is important to keep watch because as the young colour up they should be moved.
Without doubt gram for gram you will not find a more aggressive bird to their young, other Cubans and at time birds with some yellow feathering.They will not just fight or chase but at times will murder without remorse.Frequently if young are left in the same aviary as they start to colour up when the next clutch is ready to fledge. The adult males will slaughter the young males and the female will slaughter the young females. Even if they don't have another clutch on the way. I do not house them in adjoining aviaries as the males spend nearly all day fighting each other through the wire.I have seen multiple pairs kept in an aviary, in my experience you need at least 4 pair, for some reason fighting abates and they will all sit on a perch just preening each other. Today as always I keep one pair to an aviary and they will just breed and breed.
Feeding: These little birds are easy to cater for even when feeding chicks, a good seed mix, seeding grass or greenfood, plain cake, egg shells, grit, a few mealworms are relished and clean water, you can add your little treats or variations.
Housing: They are easy to cater for and do not require a big flight to entice them to bred. If you can have a safety door it will help as they seem to love to pass you and get out, luckily they then seem to spend ages trying to get back in and the are reasonably easy to catch and return back to their mate.
They build their own nest, either in dry brush,can basket and occassionally in a growing bush.To entice them to breed I place a large piece of teased coconut fibre plus a large piece of carpet under felt and away they go with nest building. At this time some pairs will annoy you. They will have a lovely finished nest and you are thinking eggs soon when all of a sudden they demolish the nest and build again. This can happen numerous times, I feel it my be they fear human interference. The clutch is generally 3 to 4 eggs which are white with brown spots. Incubation is about 12 days but you will rarely see the hen sitting, they are increadibly quick to come off and sit quietly preening each other as if nothing was going on.Two or three chicks generally fledge after about 14 days looking like their mothers except for a very short tail and lighter coloured skin around their beak. If they are bred in winter clutches are smaller and the chicks fledge with far less feathers, some times head and wing feathers only but they are pretty tough and have a good chance to survive.
While they are tough and agressive at times don't house them with big birds as they are still a physically small specie.
Breeding: Should you provide a good aviary for them and a balanced diet the Cuban finches will breed non stop through out the season and show no ill effects. I should point out that they are not what you would class as a long lived bird and they will breed at 6 months old once again showing no ill effects.
Hints/tips: The Cuban finch would have to be the sticky beak of the finch world, it is always first to inspect what ever you have put in the aviary or what's thrown on the floor.
It simply picks over everything while it happily calls to its mate.
Unique Characteristics: A couple of do's and don'ts.
Do keep them as they are a great little bird.
Don't inspect their nests as they do not like human fiddling at all.
Don't presume they are not breeding because you never see them leaving or entering their nest.
Don't add a new bird to an aviary which already has a mate waiting. Just catch up your original bird and put them together in a holding cage for a couple of days then release them together. Try and match the pairs with regard to similar ages.
Extra: While at times I have painted them as a bird with a few problems this is being harsh on this specie. In actual fact, if you follow the few basic rules you will have a really top class finch for your collection. It will rarely create any problems even with the quietest fire finch, it continually makes its pleasant little call and will be a reliable breeder especially if you keep those fingers out of their little dome nest.
If you see this little bird for sale consider it seriously, because there are many far less desirable species around.
Feel free to get in touch with any further questions. You can contact me via the FF Forum my username is 'David Holmes'.
