Dr Bradt has been taking care of 70 zebra finches at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Massachusetts. The finches fly around and land on the electric guitars when they are not busy nesting, breeding, preening their mates, eating seeds and pelleted diet from cymbals, hopping around on the sand or playing with the hay. The electric guitars make a wild array of varying chords depending upon how many birds are on the strings and what they are doing. It’s fun to watch what they are up to and try to identify which guitar the sound is coming from. Sometimes that’s not easy with so many guitars in the room.
Did you know?
The finches do pair off for breeding although we do not know if they ” mate for life”. Maybe a zebra finch breeder can fill us in on that.
Zebra finches will mate in the open. Look for the female with the raised tail and the male above and beside her.
They will defend their territory while breeding so they will chase other birds away from their nest.
More details about finch breeding at this link : http://www.finchinfo.com/breeding/behaviors.php
Peabody Essex Museum link : http://www.pem.org/exhibitions/164-freeport_no_007_celeste_boursier-mougenot
Boston Globe article link : http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2014/01/15/peabody-essex-museum-electric-guitars-birds/qGCnoCevXDCuUyOEUH9r0M/story.html
Boston Globe video : http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2014/01/15/peabody-essex-museum-electric-guitars-birds/qGCnoCevXDCuUyOEUH9r0M/video.html