It’s really quite cute but can be a bit of a problem during breeding season. Even in a cage with several nests, it’s not unusual at all to see numerous birds all jammed in one nest. Societies prefer to be in groups or at least pairs. This makes them a nice addition to an aviary that houses other gentle species, such as Gouldian finches.
They will get along with anything that will get along with them, and in fact, if bullied by another type of bird, they will usually just back off. I suspect that they’ve been called “society” finches due to their extremely sociable natures. Society finches are sometimes called Bengalese finches. The bird in the middle-right in the above photo is a crested society. Societies come in several different colours and patterns (as can be seen in the picture above), and there’s even a “crested” variety that has a circular crest on the head.
Societies are likely descendents of the White-rumped Munia ( Lonchura striata), and some societies look quite a bit like wild munias.
They’ve been bred in captivity for hundreds of years and are considered to be truly domesticated, so there’s no such thing as a “wild” society finch. The society finch ( Lonchura striata domestica) is one of the more common species of finch kept in captivity. The two at the bottom left are the offspring of the two just above them. How cute is that? Those are my society finches and are the topic of this post.
