Lucille bought Fred and Ed and Little Girl from a woman who got them from someone else. We've always been curious what kind of birds were around them and influenced them when they were hatchlings, because of their strange finch songs.
Fred's got the weirdest song of all our birds. His song is half mechanical as a cuckoo clock, half real boy, with a whistle thrown in the mix. The first few times we heard him we all laughed and marveled and stared at him while he produced it. We had to SEE him singing to believe such a sound could come from a living zebra finch, not a wind-up toy.
His brother Ed has the second weirdest song. It's not as mechanical, but is quite different also and apparently very impressive. Lucille's last few baby boys all aped Ed's song, so there were like five of him in the flock. We had to look to see who was crowing.
Now that the baby boys are getting older, they're adding their own little special touch to their songs. Andy makes the spitty raspberry noise at the end of his song, aping one of Lucille's other birds. Sandy has turned his Ed-derived song a bit inside out, now sounding like "Dee-Dee Dum." Randy's got Ed's song with Fred's big volume.
Last Friday when I was at Lucille's, Ed crowed at his mate, wanting sex. He twisted his tail to one side or the other as he did his courting crow and tracked her relentlessly across the floor, under the rocking chair and out again. He stood tall as he sang, with his head feathers arched, his eyes never leaving her, his tail turned this way, then that way. Watching him, one could almost envision a matador sweeping his cape behind him with great drama. I said to Lucille, "Ed's the only bird who turns his tail like that when courting."
I was wrong. Today I noticed Fred twisting his tail when he wanted Dolly. So that's two odd traits these brothers share.
Tess and Bess are Fred's daughters. We had hoped for boys, wanting more weird songsters. I kept them here at my house for about two months to imprint them with Fred's song before we knew they were girls. Tess has a normal voice. Bess did too, but not anymore. Now she sounds a bit like a squeaker-thing you find in a squeaker toy. She's a chip off the old Fred block.