Indigo finch

Indigo finch
Indigo finch ( Passerina cyanea ), male in magnificent dress
Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes) Subordination : Songbirds (passeri) Superfamily : Passeroidea Family : Cardinals (Cardinalidae) Genre : Passerina Type : Indigo finch
Scientific name
Passerina cyanea
( Linnaeus , 1766)

Distribution area. Yellow: breeding area. Blue: wintering area

The indigo finch ( Passerina cyanea ) is a North American songbird from the cardinal family .

features

The sexes have different plumage in the 15 cm long indigo finch. In the splendid dress , the blue-colored male has a dark tail, dark blue-rimmed wing feathers and a black rein stripe. In the simple brown dress it shows feathers with blue rims and a whitish belly and tail underside. The female has a brown plumage with a finely striped breast and yellow-brown wing stripes.

The call is a sharp "tsick".

Occurrence

In the summer, the indigo finch is found in southeast Canada and the eastern half of the USA, where it inhabits open, sparse forests. It winters in the Caribbean and Central America, it is only rarely found in northern South America during the winter months. It returns to the breeding areas between mid-April and early June. The autumn migration takes place between mid-September and mid-October.

There are some escaped indigo finches on the British Isles.

behavior

The indigo finch searches for seeds, buds, berries, insects and spiders on the ground and on bushes and trees. After the breeding season, it moves south in swarms and orientates itself according to the stars.

Reproduction

The bowl-shaped nest is built from leaves, twigs and grasses, mostly near the ground on low bushes or trees and padded with thin plant fibers, feathers and animal hair. The clutch consists of 3 to 4 pale blue eggs.

In the western distribution area the indigo finch also mates with the lazuli finch .

literature

• Jonathan Alderfer (Ed.): Complete Birds of North America , National Geographic, Washington DC 2006, ISBN 0-7922-4175-4

Web links

Commons : Indigofink  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Passerina cyanea in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2004. Retrieved on January 25 of 2009.
• Videos, photos and sound recordings of Passerina cyanea in the Internet Bird Collection

Single receipts

1. ↑ Alderfer, p. 603
2. ^ Paul A. Johnsgard: Great Wildlife of the Great Plains . University Press of Kansas, 2003, ISBN 0-7006-1224-6 , p. 119