Java Sparrow

Java Sparrow aka. Java Finch, aka. Java Rice Bird, aka. Paddy Bird (sounds potentially offensive, tread with care)
Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, USA
December 2015
Native of: Java, a few other Indonesian islands
Member of the Weaver-Finch Family (huh?)
§A Trembling of Finches§
★Largest Weaver-Finch★

~true bird fact~ Those aka's ain't kidding, the Java Sparrow is serious about rice. Considered a major threat to rice-based agriculture, it was a popular cage-bird in America until it was banned for concern that they would wreak havoc on our grain fields if they escaped.

~true bird history~ Ironically, they remain popular pet birds throughout Asia despite this. Java Sparrow domestication goes back centuries, at least until the Ming Dynasty. A famous and well regarded Japanese novelist, Natsume Sōseki, wrote about his pet Java Sparrow in the 1909 essay, Buncho.

How endangered are they? The real numbers are not really known, but the places he lives are so small and so under-threat, that they are considered a Vulnerable species.

Mild-mannered and friendly
A good, active listener
Upbeat, but sympathetic
Communicates a lot with a simple look