Mom.UPDATE (4-29-12): They were released back into the wild just five days after this video w. Cardoso, and Pin-tailed Whydah ML 312699931 recorded by G. Four rescued baby birds feed chirpily from an unlikely Mr. Piot, Common Waxbill Xeno Canto 42418 recorded by H. Black-crowned Waxbill Xeno Canto 194269 recorded by B. Either way, they look equally bizarre.īird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. It’s not yet settled whether foster babies mimic the mouths of finch babies or vice-versa. So perhaps mouth markings evolved due to competition for food between finch babies and those other bird babies.
Other birds target the nests of some African finches for egg-dumping, sneaking their eggs into the finches’ nest, and those foster chicks have similar colorful markings. Others think the markings signal the health of the chicks.Īnd there’s a third school of thought. Some say that they make baby beaks visible to parents delivering food to poorly lit nests. The function of these markings has long puzzled scientists. Most species’ chicks have mouth markings in colors ranging from black or white to bright yellow, orange, red or blue. The tongue and palate are strangely spotted and ringed. Newborn finches beg their parents for food, mouths wide open. Baby estrildid finches look downright creepy.Ībout 140 species of estrildid finches, including waxbills, parrotfinches and firefinches, are spread across Africa, Asia and Australia. Most baby birds are adorable little floofs - but not all of them.