Colours
Distinguishing features
Both sexes are brightly colored with black, green, yellow, and red markings. The females tend to be less brightly colored. One major difference between the sexes is that the male's chest is purple, while the female's is a lighter mauve.
Gouldian Finches' heads may be red, black, or yellow. Formerly considered three different kinds of finches, it is now known that these are colour variants that exist in the wild. Selective breeding has also developed mutations (blue, yellow and silver instead of a green back) in both body and breast color.
Juveniles also have distinctive colors. Their heads, sides and necks are grey, and their backs, wings and tail feathers are olive green. Their undersides are pale brown. Beaks are blackish with a reddish tip. Their legs and feet are light brown.
Newly-hatched Gouldian Finches are pink and naked until about 12 days old when the beginnings of feathers start to appear.
Very young birds also have blue, phosphorescent beads on the sides of their beaks to help their parents see them in the dark. (Wikipedia)
Size
- From 13 cm to 14 cm (Length of specimen)
Wingspan
- Wingspan data is not yet available.
Synonyms
Distribution
©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution
Distribution and habitat preferences
These birds are found in northern Australia, from the Cape York Peninsula through north-west Queensland and the northern Northern Territory to the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Their habitat is tropical savanna woodlands. The birds are nomadic within a relatively small area (approximately 40 square kilometers) and only move when water or food becomes scarce.
The largest known wild population of the species is found in the Bastion Hills, next to the town of Wyndham in the eastern Kimberley, where a 28 square kilometre site – the Wyndham Important Bird Area – has been identified by BirdLife International. (Wikipedia)
Diet
It is a seed eater. During the breeding season, they feed mostly on ripe or half-ripe grass seeds of sorghum. During the dry season, they forage on the ground for fallen seed. During the wet season, spinifex grass seed (Triodia sp.) is an important component of their diet.
So far they have been recorded as consuming six different species of grass seed, but during crop analysis, researchers have yet to find evidence of insect consumption. (Wikipedia)
