Feather-betting

Contests’ songbird smuggler guilty

This bird smuggler might get cooped up in federal prison.

A Connecticut man pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court Thursday to charges of trying to smuggle 34 live finches stuffed inside plastic hair rollers into the United States on a flight from Guyana to JFK Airport last June.

Francis Gurahoo (right, on Thursday) planned to sell the birds for use in high-stakes bird-singing competitions in Brooklyn and Queens, feds say. The Carrie Underwoods of these avian “American Idol” contests can sell for thousands.

Gurahoo admitted to US Customs and Border Patrol agents after his arrest that he planned to sell the birds for $3,000 each, which would have made him about $102,000, court papers state.

He pleaded guilty to a smuggling charge before Magistrate Judge

Robert Levy. “I failed to report them,” Gurahoo said to Levy, reading from a written statement. “Instead, I tried to sneak them into” the Eastern District of New York. Gurahoo was visibly tense at his plea hearing, so much so that Levy told him to not “be nervous or scared.” “I have a family,” Gurahoo told the judge. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Gurahoo could face a prison term of two years to 33 months.

He declined to comment after the hearing.

“The birds he brought into this country are not illegal,” Gurahoo’s lawyer, Eric Pack, said.

The songbird contests, dubbed “bird races,” are often held in public parks.

Birds are pitted against each other to see which can get to 50 tweets first.

Winning finches can be sold for up to $5,000, according to court papers.