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The Owl Finches

I currently have two owl finches, Monti and Whitey. My owl finches are very social and do not cause any problems with any of the other birds. Owl finches are difficult to sex, and thus I do not know whether mine are females or males. I am guessing female, because I have never heard them sing, and I believe one of the owls may have laid an egg in the seed dish at one time - although I can't say for certain which bird actually laid the egg. Some say you can sex them based on the thickness of the breast bar or the whiteness of the apron between the bars, but I have not had any luck with this method. If you have a true pair, you may be able to sex them by separating them and seeing which one calls to the other (the male should sing a song).

There are two different varieties of owl finches, white rumped and black rumped. Mine are the more common white rumped.

The owls are very curious birds. Their curiosity is second only to the zebras in my aviary. They are good eaters and they love to be preened - in some cases, to a fault. Whitey has lost some feathers around the neck due to overzealous preening, and this is the second owl I've had experience this (the first died of an illness several years ago). I haven't found a good solution to this problem, since separating the birds will only make them miserable. I've tried feather-up and Nekton-Bio, with little luck.

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