Col Roberts to launch an exciting new coffee table book on Australian Finches.

Gouldian Finches. For some finch enthusiasts these birds are considered to be the most beautiful finches in the world. These finches can be seen in northern Australia

A Blue faced parrotfinch. This species can be seen in the Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland. They can also be seen in New Guinea and on many of the small islands to the north of Australia

Masked Grassfinches can be seen across northern Australia and the top end of Western Australia

The Crimson Finch, or as some refer to it as the Blood Finch,can also be seen in northern Australia plus also the south-eastern corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria which is in Queensland

The Double-barred finch , or sometimes it’s referred to as a Bicheno or Owl finch, can be seen across a broad band from north Western Australia all the way across to north Eastern Australia.

A group of Long-tailed grassfinches with a masked finch and a Double-barred finch

A Red-eared Firetail. This species can be seen in a very small part of south western Western Australia

 

Painted finches are quite often seen on rocky outcrops in western and central Australia.

World class finch photographer Col Roberts, from Western Australia, is currently working on producing an exciting new coffee table book on all 24 Australian grassfinches and mannikin species and subspecies. Col has already captured 15 of the species and is busy criss-crossing Australia in search of the remaining birds

The Master at Work. Col Roberts from Western Australia. Photo taken by Eelco Meyjes in the Kruger National Park on an RFCG EcoTour in 2013

This is what Col had to say about his plans for his exciting new book. ” The aim is to produce the best finch photography book primarily with anecdotes of my observations in the wild. It is not a scientific book or one containing a huge amount of text. I want to let the photos do the talking.It will be a high quality book with over 300 pages of stunning images. A lot of the photographs will show behavioral scenes such as feeding on seed heads, young etc. The book is about two years away and is scheduled for publication late 2017 / 2018.” The good news is that Col will be donating a percentage of sales to the Rare Finch Conservation Group. If you are possibly interested in putting your name down for a book please contact him at 1roberts@tpg.com.au and let him know that you read about the exciting news on our RFCG blog. At this stage it is still too early for him to give any idea on what the final cost will be. This book will undoubtedly be the definitive photographic book on all the Australian Grassfinches and Mannikins.

Col Roberts by profession is a magistrate and a full member of the Rare Finch Conservation Group. We thank him for supporting the group with his brilliant photographic work.

The Rare Finch Conservation Group is registered in South Africa as a non-profit organisation and is totally dependent on donors and sponsors to carry out its conservation work on finches in the wild. For more info visit http://www.rarefinch.org or write to the secretary at editor@avitalk.co.za

SEE – CONSERVE – ENJOY