Author: Mandy Tucker Singing Wings Aviary

Description: In the normal form the head, nape and chin are black with white cheek patches outlined in black. The primary flight wings feathers and upper tail converts are also black. A blue-gray covers the bird's mantle, back, secondary wings, chest and rump. The belly is a cinnamon brown color and the under tail coverts are white. Javas have red-pink beaks, legs and eye circles. Both sexes look identical with only slight differences in beak shape and color.

Size: These birds average 5-6 inches (13-15cm) and are very hardy birds.

Origin: Java Finches are also known as Java Rice Birds, Java Sparrows, Java Temple Birds and Java Paddy Finches. They originated from the islands of Java in Indonesia and have spread out through southern Asia, parts of Africa and Hawaii. At some time in the 1970's there was a ban placed on imprting Javas into the USA. Most Javas currently in the US are a domestic breed although some wild flocks have been established from released or escaped domestic birds. It is not evident at this time how the wild Javas in Hawaii first arrived but they are considered by some as agricultural pest.

Sexing Javas: Sexing a Java Finch is the hardest part of owning one. They can be very difficult to sex especially with young birds! There are four ways to distinguish the gender of Java Finches but only one has 100% accuracy so let's start there. ONLY the male Java Finch sings!! Young male birds will attempt to sing at about 1-2 months after they fledge. In order to hear the bird sing you can separate them from all other birds. If the bird in question is a male it will start to sing after about a week of solitude. If you have a flight full of Javas it will be easier to pick out males because they sing a lot more in a flight or you can try introducing a new Java into the flight to intice the males. The problem with spotting them in the flight is catching the same bird that was singing!! To solve this you can put a different color plastic band on all your Javas & when you hear one singing notice it's band color. You can write this down in your records, catch the birds up later and band all the hens one color and the males another. I chose to band all my males Red and females Purple. If you are unsure how to band birds or do not know where to get bird bands you can click on the following link for all the information -----> BIRD BANDING-CLICK THIS! Female Java's do make a clicking or whirring sound but they DO NOT sing! If you hear the slightest singing ...IT'S A MALE!

There are other ways to sex Javas such as beak sexing, eyering sexing, pelvis sexing & DNA sexing. When sexing by beak it is important to note that mature male Javas have a swollen area at the base of the beak & hens do not. The hen's beak seems longer and narrower in comparison while the male's beak is wider and has a blunt tip. Below are some really good photos taken from Rob Salem and myself which illustrate what I am trying to explain. After