Taxonomy/Origins: The natural range of the Jacarinis is from Venezuala to Mexico (tropical) I presume its natural habitat would be secondary bushland.
Subspecies: There are no sub species to my knowledge.
Plumage Colouration: The Jacarinis finch measures around 3.75 to 4 inches both male and female, so it's not classed as a large robust member of the finch family. During breeding season the sexes are easily recognized. The Male is jet black (Steel Blue in the sun light) with a small white patch under the wing which can be seen when the bird displays. The female is streaked brown as is the young ones.At the end of the breeding season young males are generally showing a few black feathers. In the non breeding season the male will lose his black plumage, some virtually the same as the female while others can retain 50% of the black feathers.Some old birds may remain black all year.
Feeding: These birds will eat a basic waxbill seed mix and are partial to mealworms in particular when feeding young. At this time they become quite trusting and when a hand full of mealworms are thrown on the ground they are the first to arrive. They will eat soaked seed at any time of the year. In general treat them the same as the African Waxbills.
Housing: They can be kept and bred in quite small aviaries, but I am not an advocate for keeping them in a cage. They are too active and there feathers become very tatty. At the start of the breeding season the males all pick a display area, it may be a small branch or a cleared area on the aviary floor. From here they try to attract their mates.The male will jump/fly vertically for 12 to 18 inches every few minutes. Each time uttering a twittering call which must be more musical to the female than to me. The Jacarinis has the bad habit of moving and call around an aviary at night, particularly if there is any moonlight but the other birds seem to put up with it.
Breeding: They will not build in a nest box or cane basket. Their nest sites can vary greatly. Some will build their little cup shaped nest close to the groung in a thick bush or even a tussock while others will build in the dry brush, sometimes in full view. They build a small cup shaped nest from coconut fibre, small roots and lined with cotton wool or other down like material. Generally 3 white eggs with red spots are layed. Incubation is around 14 days and the young scramble out of their nest in aroung 12 days, less if disturbed. At this stage the young have no tails and their legs look out of proportion. Another 21 days at least are required before they are independant. Once the birds bond and start nesting it becomes a non stop process as the female is sitting as the male continues to feed last the young. Generally two young are fledged, sometimes three, but you may end up with 6 successful nests in a season. I generally leave the young in with the parents until the end of the season. Remember to ring the parents as it doesn't take long for the young to look adult.
Hints/tips: I have never experienced any problems at all with the Jacarinis against other species in the aviary but two males will bicker and fight and in turn neglect the female. I have successfully put two females to the one male but these days they are in single pairs only.
Unique Characteristics: Providing that the other inhabitantss are of similar size they will happily breed. In the situation when a pair nest in the open the female can be easily watched incubating or feeding the young. The males are not as trusting and may hop off the nest.
Extra: The very first time I went to a bird dealers to purchase my initial collection of around 5 pair of birds, one species was the Jacarini, since then I have always had them in my collection and they are in my top 10 favorites. They are hardy and seem to be relatively long lived and very amusing to watch especially when displaying.
Feel free to get in touch with any further questions. You can contact me via the FF Forum my username is 'David Holmes'.
