Greyastrild
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Grauastrild ( Estrilda troglodytes ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Estrilda troglodytes | ||||||||||||
| ( Lichtenstein , 1823) |
The black-rumped waxbill ( Estrilda troglodytes ), also Gray Astrild called, is an African species of the family of finches . No subspecies are distinguished for this astrild species. The Yemeni species , which is listed in older literature as a subspecies of the gray species, is now recognized as an independent species. Together with the black reins and bridles , the gray fishes form an allospecies , the distribution areas of which touch but do not overlap.
description
Grauastrilde reach a body length of nine to ten centimeters and are therefore among the rather small magnificent finches. The red beak and the red eye rein are striking. The birds have light grayish plumage on the top and back of the head. The breast is light. Males and females look alike. However, the underside of the body of the females is markedly less red. Young birds lack the red eye stripe and they do not show any wave pattern of the plumage. Their beak is still black instead of red like that of the adult birds.
As an exception, greyastrilde occur which have a yellow instead of the red eye stripe. The underside of the body is also missing the pink tinge and the middle of the body is yellow instead of rose-red. According to the current state of knowledge, these are birds that do not convert yellow carotenoids into red ones and therefore deposit yellow pigments in areas that are normally red.
distribution
It occurs from Senegal via Gambia and Guinea to Ethiopia and from there in a southerly direction to Uganda . The habitat of the Grauastrild are dry bush savannahs and steppes with dense, thorny bushes. It is also observed on the outskirts of localities and can also be found in rice fields and on the edge of swamps. In Ethiopia its altitude distribution reaches up to 2,000 meters.
Way of life
Outside of the breeding season, the gray streak occurs mostly in groups of around 30 individuals. Occasionally such troops can also consist of several hundred individuals. It is regularly socialized with other fine finches. He looks for his food mainly on the ground. There is little research into feeding behavior in the wild. In captivity, it mainly eats the seeds of grass and herbs as well as insects.
The breeding season varies depending on the location, but generally occurs in the second half of the rainy season. Courting greyastrilde show, among other things, a halo, in which the male carries a straw or alternatively a feather in its beak and dances in front of the female. The female can also perform the stalk dance but, unlike the male, does not sing.
Grauastrilde are free breeders who usually build their nests on the ground in the bushes. The birds use fine grass, raffia, coconut fibers and plant wool as well as feathers for their nests. The female lays three to five eggs. The incubation period is between 12 and 14 days. Grauastrilde are the host birds of the Dominican widow . It is a very specialized brood parasitism . The Dominican widow lays only one egg in a nest of greyastrilden. The Dominican widow's boys grow up with their step-siblings.
Keeping as an ornamental bird
Grauastrilde have been kept as ornamental birds for a long time. The exact history of husbandry can no longer be traced, but they were already known in Europe around the middle of the 18th century. The ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot mentions it more often at the beginning of the 19th century and describes it as a bird that was very popular with finch lovers. Before and after the First World War, the Grauastrild was even one of the finches most frequently imported into Europe. Mostly they were introduced via Marseille .
The Grauastrild is a species that becomes very trusting and is extremely robust. Hardly any other African finch survived the trapping, transport and acclimatization in the cage like hardly any other African finch. As a result, it was rarely brought up for trade in Europe. That has only changed in the last few decades.
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 VII. 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
Single receipts
- ↑ Nicolai et al., P. 245
- ↑ Nicolai et al., P. 246
- ↑ Fry et al., P. 299
- ↑ Nicolai et al., P. 247
- ↑ Bielfeld, p. 47
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Estrilda troglodytes in the Internet Bird Collection
- Estrilda troglodytes onthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2013.