Bird Species - St. Helena Waxbill

English Name

St. Helena Waxbill

Common Waxbill

Spanish Name

Estrilda Común

Latin Name

Estrilda astrild

Origins	Originally tropical and southern Africa but has now been introduced to St. Helena, Mauritius, Reunion, Rodriquez, Seychelles, Amirantes, Tahiti, Brazil, Portugal, and Hawaii where it has become more or less established. It inhabits open grassland, farmland, cultivated fields, marshes, grassy clearings in forests, and near human habitation, especially abandoned farms.
Sexing	To sex this specie the most accurate and easiest way is to turn the bird over and look at the feathers from the vent to the tip of the tail. The male has jet black feathers and the female has black/brown to light brown feathers. Don't go by the amount of red as a good quality hen can be better in colour than a poor example of a male. The male will also display and call, but not always to a female though. The cock, in the courtship display will carry around a stem, or feather in his mouth, moving his head around in a conspicuous live manner, offering this item to his desired mate. Once the pair has mated, and the female starts producing her eggs, she becomes larger in the breast, and lower abdominal areas. Baldness may appear on some females heads from an aggressive male’s hold on the female.
Males
Females
Size	10 cm (4 inches) long.
Weight
Rings
Character	They breed better in large colonies. These birds are very social and fraternize with their own species in groups, seldom seen off its exploring, or feeding alone. They are not aggressive to other species in a mixed flight.
Feeding	They take the simple finch type seed mix, and all other tit bits offered to your other smaller waxbill types. Mealworms are taken and they will sit quietly running the mealworm skin back and forth extracting every last morsel. Finer type seeding grasses are relished particularly when young are in the nest. Grass seeds. Find a good finch seed mix, add in millet, live foods, egg food, and some fruits & veggies. They have proven that they'll eat just about anything. If you don't think your Waxbills are eating well enough you can use vitamin, mineral, & calcium additives. In their natural habitat, and larger aviary flights, they feed on ground, or ledges, and upon vegetation. Experts recommend sprouts, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cabbage and certain herbs. Even common lawn and garden weeds (free from pesticides and fertilizers) are loved by the waxbills. They even can ingest some needed minerals from the soil of plant roots. Always provide a cuttlebone, or calcium additive to supplement the needed calcium for egg production and laying. In addition to traditional finch seed mixes (including millet), Red Eyed-stripped Waxbills also feed on invertebrates and live food, such as mealworm, termites, aphids, ant and fly larvae. ABUNDANT Live food is of most importance during breeding.
Breeding Cages
Nest	Width
	Depth
	Height
	Hole Diameter
	Red Eyed-striped Waxbills are known to often nest and breed on or close to the ground, looking for sheltered concealed areas. In the wild, they tend to build nests in the base of bushes. It is recommended to place a proposed nest close to the ground. Waxbills will build their own nest, but will also take easily to a covered canary basket, placed behind greenery or mounted in a small bush. They will build their own ball shaped grass nest with a sort of male roosting section on the top located in the brush in the shelter or a pile of meadow hay on the floor (if no quail are present). If there are tussocks of grass in the outside flight section they will build on the ground up against the tussock. When we want to have them rear the Pintails we hold back all nesting materials, When we want them to breed, all we do is drop an arm full of a very fine grass in the aviary and around 20 pairs would have completed nests within 24 hours.
Nesting Material	Nesting material can be coconut hair, or fine dried grasses (particularly raffia), feather and tissue paper
Breeding Period	Generally they don't need anything special to get them to nest and will breed continually until the wet cold weather returns.
Eggs	5-6, 4-8
Incubating
Incubation	12-14 days.
Fledging	18 days independence 21 days later.
Batches
Lifespan	5 years.
Breeding Life
Sexual Maturity	Young look like a small version of their parents but with black beaks and gape spots.
Aviaries	They are far better breeders in an aviary where the male can display and court the female. I have seen very successful results from an aviary 8 feet x 3 feet x 6 feet high. Provided drafts are kept to a minimum they will survive outside provided that the temperature stays above freezing. They will mix with other small waxbills and I have never found them aggressive.
Temperatures	Minimum 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Health Problems
Observations	Can be used to foster Pin tailed Whydahs. They frequently abandon their nests even when conditions are good. Encouraged to maintain the availability of fresh bathing water daily. The waxbills need for privacy, especially during breeding. Real or artificial plants can be used to assist in providing privacy to the brooding pair, especially in sheltering the nest During this period, they should not be in a noisy area and their nest must not be disturbed. Attempts to inspect the interior of the nest during breeding will disrupt the breeding process leading to ejection of the eggs and/or young and abandonment of the nest.

Colour Mutations
Fawn	The fawn is quite nice with all brown feathers replaced with a warm fawn colour and all red is intensified.

Pieds

5-6, 4-8