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The Waxbill Finch Society

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The Society for Breeders of African and Asiatic Small Finches

Page last updated: 17 June 2023

Members' breeding returns (incorporates 2022 returns)

At the start of every calendar year, all members are sent a breeding returns form. Members indicate the number of birds they have bred in the previous year for each species kept. The returns are then collated by the WFS breeding records officer and made available for discussion/ wider understanding. The returns seek to provide a picture of a species popularity and its continued viability in aviculture (both in the UK and in continental Europe) and act as a focus on deciding which birds will be be set as the target species for members for the following year. All members are encouraged to return their forms - even if they haven't bred any waxbills that year.

The 2022 returns have now been collated and have been incorporated into the chart below. This alphabetical view covers a 12-year period from 2011-2022 but the totals column sums the full WFS returns covering 1992-2022, which can be downloaded  in .xls format  or, if required,  in .pdf  to print. Please note: we are continuing to colour-code breeding numbers against species - a heat map that presents a visual representation of the risks for individual species associated with these annual returns.

The club is grateful to all members who have participated.

Species (latin name) 2011 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2022 Total WFS returns
African Quailfinch (Ortygospiza atricollis) 7 5 5 7 5 12 41
African Silverbill (Lonchura cantans) 271 417 213 82 159 332 172 219 207 193 117 107 3988
Bar-breasted Firefinch (Lagonosticta rufopicta) 5 8
Bibfinch (Lepidopygia nana) 13 9 6 1 2 38 14 13 33 16 21 36 316
Black & White Mannikin (Lonchura bicolor) 8 15 20 60 97 250 75 53 27 731
Black Munia (Lonchura stygia) 37 18 17 11 36 19 32 9 186
Black-bellied Firefinch (Lagonosticta rara) 68 4 9 6 106
Black-cheeked Waxbill (Estrilda erythronotos) 14 9 8 13 11 33 23 19 11 20 31 10 376
Black-crowned Waxbill (Estrilda nonnula) 4 2 6 20 7 1 3 229
Black-headed Nun (Lonchura atricapilla) 26 22 3 3 30 2 41 5 16 27 34 296
Blue-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta rubricata) 7 12 12 6 45 100 21 15 28 3 307
Blue-breasted Waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis) 3 9 5 13 7 6 7 3 69
Blue-capped Waxbill (Uraeginthus cyanocephalus) 192 222 105 77 133 199 181 196 131 40 10 18 2766
Bronze-winged Mannikin (Lonchura cucullata) 1 42 98 170 136 99 59 69 712
Brown Twinspot (Clytospiza monteiri) 5 8 32 75
Chestnut-breasted Finch (Lonchura castaneothorax) 120 192 64 37 52 46 119 85 87 112 96 60 1441
Chestnut-breasted Nigrita (Nigrita bicolor) 1 1
Cut-throat Finch (Amadina fasciata) 58 56 33 2 16 101 43 39 84 25 49 28 1440
Dusky Munia (Lonchura fuscans) 26 29 17 5 8 36 24 24 19 19 418
Dusky Twinspot (Euschistospiza cinereovinacea) 2
Dybowski's Twinspot (Euschistospiza dybowskii) 13 27 30 2 6 10 18 62 44 43 48 43 528
East African Quailfinch (Ortygospiza a. Fuscocrissa *) 2 30 28 46 106
Fawn-breasted Waxbills (Estrilda paludicola) 3 9 11 4 3 30
Fernando Po Mannikins (Lonchura bicolor poensis) 8 5 5 1 19
Five-coloured Mannikin (Lonchura quinticolor) 29 56 24 1 9 15 134
Gold-breasted Waxbill (Amandava subflava) 71 136 107 37 74 151 114 82 86 19 55 14 2236
Grand Mannikin (Lonchura grandis) 2 10 7 2 5 23 15 7 71
Grand Valley Mannikin (Lonchura teerinki) 2 15 11 18 7 12 10 96
Green Avadavat (Amandava formosa) 69
Green-backed Twinspot (Mandingoa nitidula) 4 39 9 90
Grey-crowned Mannikin (Lonchura nevermanni) 1 3 32
Grey-headed Oliveback (Nesocharis capistrata) 11 6 1 14 38
Indian Silverbill (Lonchura malabarica malabarica) 73 108 35 23 60 78 74 20 11 6 4 12 887
Java Sparrow (Padda oryzivora) 16 104 20 5 69 184 113 108 125 108 84 28 1604
Javan Mannikin (Lonchura leucogastroides) 2 21 9 3 6 201
Lavender Waxbill (Estrilda caerulescens) 3 31 18 4 2 22 27 45 44 24 3 3 409
Magpie Mannikin (Lonchura fringilloides) 42 91 49 36 7 18 438
Mali Firefinch (Lagonosticta virata) 2 7
Melba Finch (Pytilia melba) 3 1 13 7 5 14 1 6 24 160
Moluccan Mannikin (Lonchura molucca) 40 27 15 11 11 11 2 3 23 32 46 39 607
New Britain Mannikin (Lonchura spectabilis) 52 42 20 24 10 5 9 7 2 2 204
Orange-cheeked Waxbill (Estrilda melpoda) 23 21 14 12 1 31 55 51 37 26 6 5 660
Orange-winged Pytilia (Pytilia afra) 104 54 42 23 3 16 6 362
Pearl-headed Silverbill (Lonchura griseicapilla) 60 95 49 28 35 24 4 62 109 69 60 4 836
Peter's Twinspot (Hypargos niveoguttatus) 25 70 55 26 2 2 2 19 45 91 70 72 700
Purple Grenadier (Granatina ianthinogaster) 39 48 49 24 11 53 55 82 101 81 51 15 847
Red Avadavat (Amandava amandava) 66 77 6 22 19 56 92 61 76 17 2 14 1085
Red-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) 132 138 119 147 97 127 176 61 55 42 7 19 1963
Red-billed Quailfinch (Ortygospiza gabonensis) 9 12 14 14 3 52
Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu (Uraeginthus bengalus) 221 161 52 9 15 50 120 181 87 81 42 19 2085
Red-eared Waxbill (Estrilda troglodytes) 10 32 20 19 36 39 16 16 12 7 13 592
Red-headed Finch (Amadina erythrocephala) 28 24 24 2 16 4 17 59 66 12 611
Red-winged Pytilia (Pytilia phoenicoptera) 121 94 77 53 58 41 19 26 6 15 746
Rosy Twinspot (Hypargos margaritatus) 3
Rufous-backed Mannikin (Lonchura bicolor nigriceps) 2 11 14 19 18 8 25 8 1 14 183
St. Helena Waxbill (Estrilda astrild) 53 24 11 4 39 49 74 56 30 6 17 5 618
Spice Finch (Lonchura punctulata) 98 84 46 43 41 44 64 67 73 37 33 25 1095
Sundevall Waxbill (Estrilda rhodopyga) 21 14 20 1 129
Timor Sparrow (Lonchura fuscata) 40 4 15 28 17 5 132
Tri-coloured Mannikin (Lonchura malacca) 11 21 44 6 25 11 17 18 42 13 237
Vinaceous Firefinch (Lagonosticta larvata vinacea) 2 12 1 2 6 22 15 37 34 20 8 2 225
Violet-eared Waxbill (Uraeginthus granatinus) 88 166 74 44 15 4 135 153 124 72 70 27 1370
Weston Bluebill (Spermophaga haematina) 3 3 4 3 17 5 1 70
White-headed Nun (Lonchura maja) 116 39 22 48 74 91 65 70 89 14 43 26 1036
White-rumped Mannikin (Lonchura striata) 3 5 26 32 79
White-spotted Mannikin (Lonchura leucosticta) 7
Yellow-bellied Waxbill (Estrilda melanotis) 2 5 9 33 4 1 21 88
Yellow-winged Pytilia (Pytilia hypogrammica) 113 86 68 77 128 69 37 35 26 19 13 19 983
TOTALS 2399 2784 1568 1013 1413 2248 2660 2416 2483 1543 1367 937 38453
No. of Returns 70 74 64 66 88 119 125 93 87 66 58 43
No. of Species 42 44 44 44 44 45 52 56 51 44 43 44
Membership 235 207 187 201 189 223 250 198 186 161 123 107
Percentage of returns/members 29.8 35.7 34.2 32.8 46.6 53.4 50.0 47.0 46.8 41.0 47.2 40.2
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The Waxbill Finch Society

To build up stocks of captive-bred birds