Beaks and Cheeks

Good thing I didn't get their Christmas stockings labeled yet...

Soooo, turns out I did NOT properly read the info on how to tell the gender of a young zebra finch. I thought it interesting that Deuce was working hard last weekend to teach his girls to sing, because that's just not how it works in ZF City. Only the boys pick up a tune from their daddy and carry it down the line, while the females make non-melodic sounds. But then yesterday I noticed a slight tinge of color change on the top part of all three youngsters' beaks and went into research mode. 

In a nutshell, I may have to change all their names, because zebra finches get their adult feathers and adult coloring (including orange beaks and cheeks for males) at 5-6 weeks old. Hey Einstein, guess how old my birds are? Who would have guessed that a black beak would/could become orange! (I would have, if I'd read the original material more carefully.) Then again, I was born with black hair that turned blonde so I guess it's not that weird.