The New Scientist (UK) has reported on studies that state food depravation in early stages of growth prevent the areas of the brain that control bird songs from developing properly.

Studying sparrows, starlings and zebra finches, birds suffering from food depravation and other stress factors could not learn and reproduce songs required to attract mates.

They theorise that this may be a natural response, as females will be less likely to be attracted to males that are less healthy than there full throated songbird rivals.
So breeders, fatten those babies up early.

In an update to the orange bellied parrot vs wind farm story, the company behind the wind farm is trying to ease fears for the parrots future by throwing money at the problem…, I mean investing in the parrots protection.

The Australian reports that developer Wind Power has stated that if the  project goes through, then they will contribute what will add up to millions of dollars to revegitation of the orange bellied parrot’s habitat.

On the other side of things, supporters of the parrot have shown exactly what they think of the project in the traditonal green response.

Monitoring stations have been cut down with a hacksaw or boltcutters.

The rather plain looking ground finch from the Galapagos Islands must be the most famous finch of the moment. Its “Instant Evolution” is the subject of debate at the moment.

The story started a few months ago, when a study determined that the finches have evolved over a period of about a two decades in response to the reduction in the availability of food for the finches. The larger beaked finch died out as larger seeds disappeared, and the smaller beaked variety emerged through the hard times due to its preference for smaller seeds.

Rather than a commentary on the ground finch, it has turned into a debate on the merits of evolution versus intelligent design. Evolutionists are scoring points with the findings, while opponents to the theory are claiming that a single generation is too fast.

Apart from the little finch in the picture, it has very little to do with finches, but it makes for good reading if you find the evolution/creationist battle interesting.

Read:

• National Geographic Story
• Australian Christian old-Earth creationist/IDist biologist blog against evolution,
• Response from the Smoky Mountain News
• Darwin’s Finches

The opening of the Mornington Station Wildlife Sanctuary has made the job of studying the wild gouldian finch a little easier.

As The Australian reports, the addition of DNA testing equipment means that samples can be processed without the need to send them to capital cities.

With the breeding population down to approxiamately 2500 pairs, the effects of fires and cattle grazing can have a drastic effect on the birds. The scientists are studying the effects that these particular factors have on the seasonal grasses of the area, the main food source for the Gouldian finch and other endangered species in the area.

Researchers have concluded from studies that parrots are similar to certain primates and dolphins in that they have unique calls for they babies.

The HindustanTimes.com reports that studies on colonies of the small Columbian spectacled parrot showed that distinctive cries from the mother were only responded to by the particular baby parrot, while other birds ignored the cries completely.

As the report states, it will again open the debate into the complexity of language in the animal kingdom. The report is the first relating to parrots and birds in general, and points out the unique skills that parrots use in their social relationships. The researcher (a German by the name of Rolf Wanker) avoids stating whether or not this proves that humans are not the only ones to use complex linguistic structures.

The endangered Orange Bellied Parrot is in the news at the moment, although it is a little unclear what for.

The proposed wind farm at Gippsland was knocked back originally, stating that it would endanger the habitat of the small australian parrot. TheAge.com.au reports that there may be other reasons for the Federal Environment Minister to block the development, after he is said to have recieved advice that there was no threat to the orange-bellied parrot.

Senator Campbell is said to be reconsidering the decision, probably due to legal action being taken by the Victorian State Government. Although it is admirable that the environment comes first in decisions of this magnitude, as this editorial in The Australian points out, sometimes you have to wonder at the main motivational factors…

Breeders Market gives you the opportunity to add photos to your directory listing. This will give users a great idea of what sort of birds or pets you are breeding, or what your cages or enclosures look like.

You can log into your administration area and add images to your image gallery, by clicking the Image Gallery button at the top of your listing details.

Add your image to the gallery by locating it on the hard drive and uploading it. Remember that your image can only be 600 by 600, and a maximum of 50K.

Editing your photos

You will need some editing software to do this. Photoshop is good, but expensive, so I recommend Google Picasa. It is free, and is good for editing and saving photos for the web. You can download it by clicking the following link.

Find the photos that you want, edit them using the tools available, and click export. You can then alter the size and quality to get the desired file size. then upload them to the directory!

If you need any help, please comment here, or contact me.

Broken Head Aviaries have been the first to take advantage of the free listing offer.

That leaves only 4 free premium listings left before new directory listings will be charged at the full rate.

Broken Head Aviaries is run by Ken Wagland, and has plenty of varieties of finches for sale.

His website is also full of interesting articles on his experiences in bird breeding. Have a look at Broken Head Aviaries, and see for yourself.

The Breeders Market is now open for business!

Now that the site is up and running, we need bird breeders to list on our site. Because the site is new, we will be offering some great introductory deals.

We will be offering:

FREE PREMIUM LISTINGS TO THE FIRST FIVE SIGN UPS!

This is great value, and will give you a great guide to what you can do with your Breeders Market Directory Listing.

So visit the Breeders Directory now, and be the first to sign up!

Welcome to the Breeders Market. This is my first post on the site, and I look forward to many more.

In case this is your first time here, the Breeders Market is aimed at all breeders of all ages and all niches. Because I have a little bit of history in the bird breeding areas, that will be the main focus, but there is nothing to stop any dog breeders, cat breeders, horse breeders, or even ferret breeders from using the site.

The main aim is to provide a site that everyone can use to advertise their animals and products, but we also want the site to be known as the place to go to find whatever pet or livestock you are looking for.

We also want the site to be as user friendly as possible, and I hope that we have achieved that goal. If you find anything too hard to use or confusing, please contact us any we will help you as much as we can.

I will be posting some tutorials and tips here on the site, so please stay tuned and get the most out of the Breeder Market Online Directory