The Lavender Finch (also known as Lavender Waxbill / Lavender Firefinch / Red-tailed Waxbill) is a lovely grey tinged with mauve and sporting a crimson tail. This bird has a little black stripe from the side of the beak, through the eye to just past it. The female is slightly smaller than the male’s approximate 4 inches in length.

The Lavender Finch originates in Africa where they cover a large area in a hot dry climate. They are very quiet, non-aggressive, but very active birds – always on the go.



Thanks to Ben Tupper at Some Birds at West Africa for the use of the picture. You will some more beautiful bird pictures at his site.

These birds enjoy insects as part of their diet and during the breeding season live insects may be necessary to have successful results. They do best in a very warm area where the humidity is not very high.

All finches need a spacious cage or flight and the Lavender Finch is no exception. They will be happiest in a cage that allows room to fly instead of just hopping from perch to perch.



A great book to check out for information on pet birds is


The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Caged and Aviary Birds from Amazon.ca or

The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Caged & Aviary Birds from Amazon.com.


If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop by the Bird Forum anytime (see the most recent topics below).

Take the Canary & Finch Quiz to see how much you know about these birds.