Orange cheeks
| Orange cheeks | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Orange cheek ( Estrilda melpoda ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Estrilda melpoda | ||||||||||||
| ( Vieillot , 1817) |
The orange cheek ( Estrilda melpoda ) is an African passerine bird from the finch family .
features
Orange cheeks reach a body length of ten centimeters and thus belong to the rather small splendid finch cards. The beak is bright crimson. The eyes are black and surrounded by an orange color field. The ear region and the sides of the head are also orange-yellow, whereby the individual differences are very pronounced in this color. The headstock , the neck and the chest are blue-gray. The rear rump and the upper tail-coverts are red, while the tail feathers are black. The sexes can hardly be distinguished from one another. But females have a paler and smaller spot on the abdomen, which is almost orange-yellow in the male. The young birds are similar to the adult birds, but are a little more dull and paler. The underside of the body is browner than that of the adult birds.
Young birds can be confused with the swamp fawn , as their facial markings are still inconspicuous. Due to the orange face, the orange cheek cannot be confused with any other fine finch, even if the color and size vary greatly from person to person. Only the wavelike tiger has a similar plumage coloration, which can lead to confusion if the birds are only seen from the front when observing the field. However, unlike the orange cheek, the wavelike tiger is striated across the underside of the body.
distribution
The distribution area of the orange cheek is in West and Central Africa. It stretches from Mauritania , Senegal , Gambia , Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Sierra Leone and Liberia eastwards over the south of Mali , the Ivory Coast , the southern Upper Volta , Ghana , Togo , Nigeria , Cameroon , the south of the Republic of Chad and the Central African Republic and the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo almost to the west bank of Lake Albert and the north bank of Lake Tanganyika .
Despite the size of its natural distribution, only one subspecies has been described: Estrilda melpoda tschadensis Grote, 1922.
The orange cheek is very common in some regions. In Gabon there are between four to five orange cheeks per hectare. 33 nests of this type have been counted on a 5,065 hectare campus site in Nigeria. The orange cheek is usually a resident bird . However, there appear to be seasonal migrations in some regions . In the period December to February, for example, the orange cheek is found much more frequently in coastal regions of Ghana than from March to November. In the extreme northeast of Nigeria it can only be seen during the rainy season from April to November.
This species is naturalized in the Bermuda Islands , Puerto Rico and Hawaii . Captive refugees could be seen in Puerto Rico as early as 1874. The IUCN classifies the orange cheek as not endangered ( least concern ).
habitat
The habitat of the orange cheek are forest edges and clearings as well as high, dense stands of grass on banks and in swamps. It can also be found near human settlements and can be found on paths, at the edges of fields, in abandoned plantations, on cassava and rice fields, and in gardens. Orange cheeks are no less to be found in the crowns of higher trees, but can mainly be observed in the grass or in the bushes.
food
Orange cheeks pick seeds from the fruit clusters of grass or pick up fallen seeds from the ground. Seeds from the genera panicle millet , chloris and urochloa have been identified as food plants. In addition to seeds, smaller invertebrates play a role in the diet. They eat as animal food, among other winged termites , butterflies , moths caterpillars and larvae and spiders .
Reproduction
Orange cheeks live in pairs during the breeding season. Afterwards they group together in swarms of up to sixty individuals, occasionally also in the company of other fine finch species such as the wavelike deer .
.jpg)
The breeding season varies depending on the distribution area, but usually falls in the rainy season. Orange cheeks are monogamous single breeders. The male shows a straw halter, dancing up and down in front of the female while carrying a blade of grass in its beak. The nest is located directly on the ground or in low grass and herb vegetation. It is a compact, often very large, pear-shaped to piston-shaped ball nest with a tubular entrance on the side. This entrance tube can be up to four inches long. The nesting material is blades of grass, stems and fine flowers. Occasionally there is a so-called cock's nest on the actual nest . The cock's nest is usually much more fragile and has another entrance. The entrance is on the same side as that of the actual nest. Both parent birds are involved in building the nest, with the male bringing the nesting material and the female building it. The female occasionally accompanies the male as he searches for nesting material.
The clutch consists of five to six white eggs. The clutch is incubated for twelve days. Both parent birds breed alternately. The female usually sits on the eggs during the night while the male rests in the cock's nest above. After hatching, the young are initially naked and are huddled until they are ten days old . Their nestling time is 21 days. After leaving the nest, they will be looked after by their parents for another two weeks.
The brood parasite of the orange cheek is the Dominican widow . Like other widow birds, the Dominican widow does not remove any eggs from the clutch she has parasitized, but merely adds one more egg. The young bird of the Dominican widow grows up together with the nestlings of the orange cheek. The establishment of cock nests next to the actual nest is sometimes seen as a defense mechanism of the orange cheek against this brood parasitism.
Importance to humans
Orange cheeks belong to the species of finch that have been kept in Europe for a very long time. Presumably they were introduced in Europe as early as the middle of the 18th century. Vieillot already reported on this species and he also seems to have succeeded in breeding. Since the middle of the 19th century, they have been regularly imported to Europe and, together with the wavy and gray fox, are among the most frequently kept African finches. The birds that are on the market today are still imported, as the number of offspring is nowhere near satisfying the demand.
supporting documents
literature
- Horst Bielfeld : Knowing and caring for 300 ornamental birds. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8001-5737-2 .
- Peter Clement , Alan Harris, John Davis: Finches and Sparrows. An Identification Guide. Christopher Helm, London 1993, ISBN 0-7136-8017-2 .
- C. Hilary Fry , 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 Manual of Bird Care. Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8001-4964-3 .
Web links
- Estrilda melpoda inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2013.