Green teardrop cone
| Green teardrop cone | ||||||||||||
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Green turtle ( Mandingoa nitidula ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Mandingoa | ||||||||||||
| Hartert , 1919 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Mandingoa nitidula | ||||||||||||
| ( Hartlaub , 1865) |
The Green Drip Fink ( Mandingoa nitidula ), also known as Drip Green Fink , Green Drip Finch or Schlegel's Drip Finch , is an African species from the finch family . It is the only recent representative of the bell-shaped trild and in the Afrotropic a widespread and in some places a common bird. Green teardrop astril are small, greenish feathered birds with a short tail and a reddish face mask. The sexual dimorphism is only slightly pronounced. They are occasionally kept as ornamental birds in Europe, but are considered difficult to care for because of their feeding and keeping requirements.
The IUCN classifies the green drip bark as not endangered ( least concern ). Estimates of the global population are not available as this species is difficult to observe in the wild.
description
The body length of the green teardrop streak is nine to 11 centimeters. The beak is dark gray to dark brown. An orange to yellow face mask extends over the eye area. The breast is olive-colored, the underside of the body is speckled in black and white. Females are more dull in color than males. With them, the red and orange tones have a tendency towards olive colors. The eyes are brown, the legs are pale brown to flesh-colored.
Young birds differ from the adult birds in that they have a more matt body surface. The face mask is less noticeable, the breast plumage is washed out brown. The underside of the body is matt olive gray with only a few white spots. The under tail-coverts are olive brown.
Green Tropfastrilden are very lively birds that exercise like titmice through the bushes. They can be confused with the Reichenows Bergastrild . However, this species lacks the white polka dots and has a red upper body. The Wiener and Buntastrild , which both also have reddish face masks, are green on the upper side of the body and have red control feathers.
distribution
The distribution area of the green teardrop is very large and covers more than 1.5 million square kilometers. It extends from Sierra Leone to Congo and northern Angola to Kenya and southern Ethiopia. In East Africa it occurs south to southeast South Africa . He also lives on the island of Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea . The distribution area is disjoint according to previous knowledge . Fry et al. point out, however, that this, in their words “strangely incoherent” distribution can be at least partially due to the difficulties in observing this bird species. Green drop astronauts are inconspicuous due to their plumage, do not show any conspicuous behavior and their calls are barely audible for humans.
habitat
Green drop astrilds are very adaptable and occur in a wide variety of habitats. These range from lowland and mountain forests, primary and secondary forest zones to plantations and other cultivated land. Basically they live very hidden in all habitats. Its altitude distribution reaches almost 2,500 meters in altitude in East Africa. It occurs in Liberia up to 1,600, in Cameroon up to 1,850, in Kenya up to 2,350, in Malawi up to 2,120, in Zimbabwe up to 1,200 and in the South African Republic up to 1,850 meters. In Ethiopia they colonize the undergrowth of Juniperus procera forests, but also occur in the undergrowth of planted pine forests. In the South African Republic, too, it can be observed regularly in plantations with non-native pine species when the soil is covered with Setaria chevalieri , a species from the genus of the millet . In the primary and secondary forest, the green drip bark can be found mainly along paths and roads and can also be observed in forest clearings. It can be seen very often near rice fields that border the forest. He also makes use of old abandoned plantations, thorn hedges around villages, outskirts of wetlands and gardens.
Although the green drip bark is classified as not endangered overall, its populations have declined sharply in some regions due to overgrazing of forest grasses, especially Oplismenus hirtellus .
Way of life
General behaviors and food
Green drop astrilde live in pairs, in families or in small groups of up to ten individuals. The singing is very variable with chirping, murmuring and whistling tones. They look for their food mainly on the ground, where they hop around, or in low vegetation between 0.5 and 6 meters above the ground. They peck insects from the leaves and branches and also catch insects in flight. They often visit rice fields when the grains ripen or are harvested. They mainly eat grains of rice that have fallen on the ground. They react very quickly to disturbances and immediately go to the next thicket if something has caught their attention.
Their diet consists to a large extent of the seeds of sweet grasses , whereby they are particularly fond of tufted millet and Oplismenus hirtellus . They also eat the fruits of some nettles and foxtail plants , rice, cassava and insects.
Reproduction
The breeding season generally begins towards the end of the rainy season and varies accordingly with the area of distribution. In Sierra Leone, for example, they breed in December and in Liberia from August to September.
The green drip bark is a free breeder that builds its ball nest free-standing in the bushes. The wide nest entrance is on the side. He uses grass, plant fibers, moss and feathers as nesting material. Usually the nest is about 8.5 meters above the ground and is well hidden between foliage. Both parent birds are involved in nest building, the nesting material is mainly brought in by the male. Occasionally, green driftwood also use the old, abandoned nests of the forest weaver ( Ploceus bicolor ).
The female lays between four and six eggs. The incubation period is 12 to 15 days. Both parent birds breed and during the night they rest together in the nest. The young birds are fed by both parent birds. The nestling time in the wild is 17 days in the wild, on the other hand 21 to 23 days have been observed in the captive in the wild. Fledglings return to the nest for up to seven days after they fly out. They are fertile at the age of ten weeks, at which point they are partly still wearing their youthful plumage.
attitude
Green drop astrilde was first imported to Europe in the mid-1930s. They have been introduced regularly since the 1970s, with most birds being the M. n. Schlegeli subspecies . Imported birds very often arrive in a very bad state of health, so that numerous birds die in the acclimatization phase. Overall, they are considered to be difficult keepers because they are dependent on animal food. Holding experiences indicate that the birds have very different individual preferences and that individual breeders successfully breed with mealworms that other breeders do not eat by the birds, especially during the breeding season. Green teardrop stalks are unsuitable for keeping in bare cages. They only feel comfortable when they have adequate cover and enough climbing opportunities. Part of the aviary floor should also be covered with earth and moss.
Subspecies
Four subspecies are attributed to the green tears.
- Mandingoa nitidula chubbi - East Africa from southern Ethiopia to the southwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The subspecies is also found on Zanzibar and Pemba , but it may be escaped cage birds
- Mandingoa nitidula nitidula - nominate form , Swaziland and eastern parts of the South African Republic.
- Mandingoa nitidula schlegeli - from Guinea and Sierra Leone and Liberia via Ghana , Togo , southern Nigeria , what western and southern Cameroon to Gabon and the northern border of Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Mandingoa nitidula virginiae - Bioko Island
supporting documents
literature
- Horst Bielfeld : Knowing and caring for 300 ornamental birds. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8001-5737-2 .
- C. Hilary Fry and Stuart Keith (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume 7, Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9 .
- Jürgen Nicolai (Ed.), Joachim Steinbacher (Ed.), Renate van den Elzen, Gerhard Hofmann, Claudia Mettke-Hofmann: Prachtfinken - Afrika. Series Handbuch der Vogelpflege, Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8001-4964-3 .
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Mandingoa nitidula in the Internet Bird Collection
- BirdLife Factsheet , accessed June 13, 2010.
- Mandingoa nitidula inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2013.