[The Jolly Swagman]

G'day mates...Let me introduce myself with a story about an Australian Finch. The Painted Finch lives on the other side of the continent. I dont complain about that because the majority of exotic birds mostly parrots live in my state of Queensland. I do have a couple of pairs of Painteds in my aviary together with several other Australian and Foreign Finches. The Painted Finch is one of my favourites because they are not at all shy When a pair of them began to nest a few months back , I was intrigued that after laying the grass foundation for their nest, they began picking up pieces of bark and stones and carting it off to their nest site. The nest on completion has this base of rubble etc. It turns out that this is an inherited trait. You see they mostly nest in Spinifix country and it has large thorns. As the birds usually nest with the onset of seasonal rains. This also causes the Spinifix to grow faster. The base of rubble therefore is there to stop the thorns from penetrating the nest and to give protection to the eggs and chicks. The nesting birds delivered 4 newcomers. I shall post a pic of a Painted somewhere