Zebra Finch
The most studied songbird in science, because the male learns his song from his father and the learning can be watched step by step. Only the males sing.
Overview
The zebra finch is 10 to 11 cm long, weighs about 12 g, and comes from most of the Australian continent, in savanna and dry country with scattered shrubs. It lives two to three years in the wild and five to seven in captivity.
It is also one of the most studied birds in science, because males learn their song from other birds during a specific window and females do not sing at all. Nearly everything known about how vocal learning works in animals came partly from this species.
Temperament
Active, noisy in a low key way, and completely uninterested in people. Zebra finches chatter constantly, a nasal beeping that most people find pleasant background and some find relentless.
They pair for life and pair fast, and DNA work shows that infidelity is common within those pairs. They live in groups, they must be kept in at least a pair, and males can squabble at the food dish without it ever amounting to much.
Care and grooming
A quality finch seed mix with greens, egg food during moult and breeding, cuttlebone and grit. Live food during rearing improves chick survival considerably.
They breed at the slightest encouragement, which in the wild is triggered by substantial rainfall and in a cage is triggered by a nest box. Four to six eggs, two weeks to hatch, three weeks to fledge, and then again. Removing nesting material is the practical way to stop it.
Living and exercise
30 by 18 by 18 inches for a pair, longer if possible, with clear flight between end perches. They are strong fliers for their size and use the length rather than the height.
They are hardy, cheap and easy, which makes them a reasonable first bird, with one caveat worth saying plainly: they are small, they conceal illness completely, and there is very little warning. That is a fact about small birds rather than about this species.
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