Welcome as the Birds editor, Diana! This is Z. G. Standing Bear the hedgehog rescuer from the Exotic Pets forum. Although our hedgehog rescue (now at www.hedgieflash.com) has been in operation for 15 years, I have cared for and enjoyed finches for some 22 years now. For the most part we have had Zebra finches, but also a few Society finches and Owl finches. Two of our finches lived to be 15 years of age! And right now we have one male Zebra finch (with black cheek patches) that is almost ten years old. Although we have had as many as 25 finches at one time, the flock is now numbering eight - three males and four females and one as-yet mystery gender baby. All of the finches reside in four cages in my study and I admit that I cannot work without their background chirps and songs. The three males are phenomenal singers, the younger two taught by the old fellow (Winston, Jr.) who learned HIS songs from his Dad, Winston, Sr., who was a beautiful pale orange-cheeked silverback. Junior, now nearing age 10 is the last survivor of his 5 clutch-mate siblings - two girls and three other boys. All four boys have/had black cheek patches, a fairly rare departure from the typical orange cheek patches. Their mother was Snowball, an all-white Zebra finch whose only other color was the black zebra stripe below the eyes. The babies are comical to watch as they leave the best and struggle to fly. But at feeding time they are all business and each one sounds like a little chorus, so I guess the adults feed them just to shut them up. We have a single female living alone, so I guess the baby will go into that cage as s/he matures. Best wishes, Z. G. Standing Bear at The Flash and Thelma Memorial Hedgehog Rescue, Inc., in Divide, Colorado USA
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