A small brown and white juvenile bird held by an adult, resting on a textured indoor surface near a yellow bowl of liquid. 4:51
Lovely Finch Family channel icon Lovely Finch FamilyOriginal creator 14M views Save

Hungry baby finches and a sneaky taste tester

Two baby finches sit in a soft little nest and chirp without stopping. They're hungry, and they want everyone in the room to know it. more

One is a Yellow Back Gouldian finch. The other is a Fawn Social finch. Their keeper has set them up in a small homemade nest, a snug bowl that keeps them comfortable while the meal gets made.

Two small baby birds sit close together inside a round yellow container. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
The Gouldian and the Fawn Social finch wait side by side in their nest.

The meal starts as dry bird food in a small plastic cup. Water goes in from a dropper. It comes out too thin, so more food goes in until the mix is right.

All the while, a grown bird is standing by the cup and helping itself. It takes small bites of the baby food, again and again, and nobody shoos it away. For a lot of bird lovers, this little taste tester steals the show.

A small brown and white juvenile bird held by an adult, resting on a textured indoor surface near a yellow bowl of liquid. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Two baby finches sit in a soft little nest and chirp without stopping.

Then it's time. A little of the mix goes into a syringe, and the Gouldian is lifted out first. It eats from the tip, and afterward its beak gets a gentle wipe and a quick check to make sure all is well.

A tiny bird with damp feathers and dark eyes sits on a person's hand with its beak open. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Lifted from the nest, a chick opens wide for its first bite.

Now it's the Fawn Social finch's turn, and this one doesn't wait to be asked. Its mouth is already open before the syringe gets close.

The two chicks have very different table manners. The brown one is calm and patient. The pale one bobs its head from side to side and squeaks for more, then more again, a tiny bottomless pit. Both open wide for the syringe, just as they would for a mother bird.

One hand holds a small bird in a round bowl while another hand feeds it with a syringe. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
One hand holds the chick steady while the other feeds it from a syringe.

By the end the pale chick still acts as if nobody has fed it in days. The grown bird, for the record, hasn't stopped sampling.