2004 Norfolk FBA Open Show – 25 September

Following a year’s break as a result of the virus affecting parrotlike birds, the Norfolk FBA open show resumed to great support and a good entry of 320. Overall quality was very good, and judges M Baldwin, B & A Howlett and G Wincomb had quality birds to consider. The common seedeater section was very good, with an excellent Java Sparrow entry and high quality current year bred entries, and there were also excellent softbills and nectarfeeders.

There was an entry of over 50 parrotlike. D Watlow won all the Lovebird specials, with both leading exhibits being current year bred. First place went to his Cinnamon Peachfaced with a Normal Peachfaced in second place. The leading adult bird was his Normal Peachfaced and this was also third best Lovebird, and third best current year bred was a Lutino Peachfaced.

The award for best parrotlike went to S & P Fisher with their Vernals Hanging Parrot. B Sheldrake staged the second and third best parrotlike with a Ringneck and Lineolated Parakeet respectively. The same exhibitors also won the same awards in the current year bred section, S & P Fisher with another Vernals and B Sheldrake with two different Lineolated.

Leading a good entry of common seedeaters were an outstanding pair of current year bred Chocolate Silverbills belonging to L Barnsdale. This entry also took the award for best seedeater in show and second best foreign exhibit. Second best was common was a good sized and bold Redbilled Firefinch with in third place a normal Java Sparrow. Both were owned by C & S Allaway. Second and third best current year bred were the Blue Capped Waxbill of D & H Harris and S & P Fisher’s Rufous Backed Mannikin. Such was the quality of the common seedeater section that there were some excellent entries that did not make it to the specials list, notably C & S Allaway’s Green Singing Finch and B Rudling’s St Helena Waxbill plus several fine Java Sparrows.

Overall quality in the rare seedeaters was not quite as high as in the common seedeaters although the leading exhibits were very good. The two outstanding entries were the Grey Capped Social Weaver owned by D & J Robinson and the Mexican Housefinch belonging to S & P Fisher. The vote for best rare went to the former, with C & S Allaway coming third with a Black Cheeked Waxbill. The only current year bred entry was the Violet Eared Waxbill of D & H Harris.

The Australian section totalled nearly 50 exhibits, with the best Australian coming from the current year bred entries. This was L Barnsdale’s Hecks Grassfinch. The same species also took the second best Australian award for D Willmott, and this bird was also best adult Australian. L Barnsdale also took the award for third best Australian with a Parson Finch. Following the leading current year bred entry was the Crimson Finch of D & H Harris in second place whilst S & P Fisher were third with a Blue Faced Parrotfinch. There were some good Cherry Finches whilst Gouldian numbers were small, and L Barnsdale’s well matched pair of Chestnut Breasted Finches were also worthy of note.

There were 15 sunbirds benched with the Amethyst of T Tugman coming first closely followed by D & J Robinson’s Copper. The leading nectarfeeder however came from the sugarbird class and was an excellent hen Blue Faced Dacnis belonging to D & J Robinson. This bird went on to become third best foreign exhibit. The two leading sunbirds were judged to be second and third best nectarfeeder. Several very good entries just failed to make the specials list, most notably T Tugman’s Splendid Sunbird and N Elliston’s Purple Sugarbird.

The softbills contained several fine entries. The Tanager class was particularly good and contained the three best softbills. Best softbill, and ultimately best foreign exhibit was an outstanding Emerald Spotted Tanager owned by C & S Allaway. Second and third best were a Bay Headed Tanager and a Black Capped Tanager owned by N Elliston and D & J Robinson respectively. C & S Allaway had some fine exhibits that did not make the specials list including two Blue Headed Tanagers and an exquisite pair of Red Bellied Tits. There were no current year bred softbills entered.

The leading junior exhibit was a well staged Peachfaced Lovebird owned by K Eagle. The leading junior seedeater entry came from Colby School with a Java Sparrow.

Over 70 Zebra Finches were entered. The leading exhibit and best champion breeder award went to J Lacey with Fawns. The same exhibitor also won the awards for best champion adult with Normals, third best champion adult with Chestnut Flanked Whites and second best champion breeder with Normals. B Rudling won the award for second best champion adult with Fawns and D Webster was third in the champion breeder section with Penguins.

P Smith won all the novice awards. In the adult section his three leading exhibits were Normals, Fawns and Lightbacks, and the same colours took the same positions in the breeder section.

Bengalese entries were disappointing. Best Bengalese and best champion breeder was S & P Fisher’s Self Grey, best champion adult were Self Chocolate for D Brown and best novice breeder was D Webster’s Self Chocolate.