Zebra Finch

Looks how to spot one

Feathered; tiny seed-eating finch with a short, stout cone-shaped bill

A small, mostly grey finch with a neat black-and-white teardrop stripe below each eye and bold zebra-like bars across the rump and upper tail. Males add bright orange-chestnut cheek patches, fine black barring on the throat and chest, a black breast band and chestnut flanks dotted with white, while females are plainer grey. Adults of both sexes have red to orange bills and orange legs. Youngsters look like pale females with black bills and gain their adult colours by about 90 days old.341

Personality what they are like

Zebra finches are perky, active and sociable birds that care far more about each other than about people. They are happiest in pairs or small flocks, chattering in short beeps and 'meep' calls, with males adding their own personal song. Most prefer to be watched rather than handled, though some hand-raised birds will happily perch on a finger.6514

Daily activity how busy a day looks

Moderate to high. They move by short flights rather than climbing, so they need horizontal flying room more than height, plus perches spaced to encourage flight. They should stay fully flighted.61

Grooming and care the hands-on bits

Low-maintenance birds. Offer a shallow dish of clean water for bathing, keep a cuttlebone available, and provide natural wood perches of varying thickness to help keep nails in trim. Clean food and water dishes daily.57

Home where they are happiest

A long, horizontal flight cage or an aviary. Guidance ranges from a minimum of about 70 x 40 x 50 cm to at least 90 cm (36 in) long for a pair, with more space for groups; the RSPCA advises cage dimensions of at least twice the wingspan and adding extra space per additional bird. Several natural perches at different heights and a comfortable room temperature, roughly 20-30 °C for breeding birds, suit them well.1576

Food basics what goes in the bowl

In the wild they eat mainly ripe and half-ripe grass seeds picked from the ground, plus insects, especially when feeding chicks. Pet birds thrive on a finch seed mix (millets and canary seed) or a pelleted finch diet, with fresh greens, egg food and a cuttlebone, and clean water every day.13456

Company who they like around

Highly social. Wild birds live in flocks of ten to hundreds, and thousands may gather at waterholes. Pairs bond for life. Keep at least a pair; a single pair or three or more pairs usually settle better than small odd-numbered groups, which can squabble.3415

The story where it all began

Europeans first named the zebra finch from Indonesian specimens, described by Louis Vieillot in 1817, and John Gould described the Australian bird in 1837, which he placed in Amadina. Ludwig Reichenbach set up the genus Taeniopygia in 1862. For more than a century the two forms were treated as one species, until the IUCN and BirdLife International split them in 2016. The Australian bird became one of the world's most widely kept finches, prized as a hardy, easy breeder, and aviculturists have since developed a long list of colour mutations such as fawn, pied, white and penguin. It also became a star of science: it is the most studied captive songbird, a key model for understanding how young birds learn songs from adult tutors, and only the second bird, after the chicken, to have its genome sequenced.215

Recognised by the official bits

IUCN Red List

Least Concern; wild populations are abundant and stable.4

IUCN / BirdLife International

Split in 2016 into the Australian zebra finch (T. castanotis) and the Sunda zebra finch (T. guttata), based on plumage, mitochondrial DNA and mating preferences.2

Taxonomy

The Sunda bird was described by Vieillot in 1817 as Fringilla guttata and the Australian bird by John Gould in 1837 as Amadina castanotis; Reichenbach created the genus Taeniopygia in 1862.2