Abstract
Prior to the 1980s, seedcrackers
were unknown to aviculture in the
United States, although the crimson
(Pyrenestes sanguineus) had apparently
been maintained (and possibly
bred) by a handful of European aviculturists
during the mid-1970s
(Goodwin, 1982). We received our
first pairs of crimson seedcrackers in
June of 1980 from a friend who was
also an importer in the midwest.
After several weeks of unsuccessful
attempts to prevail upon me via telephone,
he, being a persistent man, did
the next best thing - he called and
gave me the flight information on the
crates of finches which were already
en route to Columbia. "You won't
believe your eyes when you see
them!" he told me. Just what I need, I
thought: some dumpy-looking little
brown birds to take up space in my
holding area. Was I in for a surprise!
This is no dumpy-looking finch.
Until now I had not considered
myself to be a "finch person:' Our
collection contained a few Gouldians,
some whydahs and purple grenadiers.
My friend was right: I couldn't
believe the intensity of the glistening,
blood-red plumage. I tried to find out
more about them, but was disappointed
to discover that precious
little was written about their behavior
or management in captivity. My
friend had suffered substantial losses
with the species during the quarantine
run and the three pairs that
arrived at Riverbanks were among the
few survivors. We had only received
these birds because he knew that a
serious effort would be made to breed
them here. Breed them we did, eventually,
but not without a struggle.