Ringelastrild
| Ringelastrild | ||||||||||||
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Ringelastrild ( Taeniopygia bichenovii ) |
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| Taeniopygia bichenovii | ||||||||||||
| ( Vigors & Horsfield , 1827) | ||||||||||||
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The Ringelastrild ( Taeniopygia bichenovii , Syn .: Stizoptera bichenovii ), also called Ringelamadine , belongs to the species-rich family of the beautiful finches (Estrildidae). He was named in honor of James Ebenezer Bicheno (1785-1851), who was secretary of the Linnean Society in London at the beginning of the 19th century (1825-1832) .
The plumage of the Ringelastrild is rather colorless and inconspicuous compared to other fine finches. In the Australian nature it lives in two different subspecies : Ringelastrild and Lattice winged deer . The mixed population occurring in nature is not recognized as an independent subspecies.
description
Ringelastrilde reach a body length of up to ten centimeters and weigh about 10.3 g. Their back plumage is colored from the middle of the head to the wings in a washed-out brown - partly grayish-brown - with clearly recognizable waves. The wings themselves are dark brown with white dots that run out like spots on the wings and visually present a grid pattern. The head is framed by a wide, black band. The cheeks and throat are white, the forehead from the beak black. The beak itself is silver-gray, the eyes dark brown with a horn-colored, narrow eye ring. The breast plumage is white-yellowish, the lower abdomen yellowish. The chest is separated from the abdominal plumage by a black chest band. The feet are dark gray. The tail is dark brown to black.
The difference between the two breeds lies in the rump plumage. In the Ringelastrild, the rump plumage is white with a black border. A black rump plumage can be found in the lattice winged feathers. In mongrels, the white rump color dominates over the black.
The genders can hardly be distinguished from the outside. Only the black head rim and the black breast straps can be narrower in the female. Young birds are initially duller and more colorless in color, but from the first moult onwards there is no longer any difference to the parent birds.
Colloquially, this species of finch is also called the owl finch due to its drawing.
Distribution area
The home of the ringel deer is the north and east of Australia . In the east, along a wide stretch of coast starting from New South Wales via Queensland to the Cape York Peninsula and further northwest over the Barkly Tableland to the beginnings of the Arnhem Land - especially the coastal area of the Gulf of Carpentaria - to slightly inland of the Northern Territory is the nominate form.
The lattice-winged deer lives in the north of Australia, beginning in the west of the Kimberley district over the whole of Arnhem Land and also up to the beginnings of the Northern Territory, where there is a habitat overlap of both races and thus a mixed breed population in nature. You can recognize this mixed population very well by the discolouring rump plumage (black-white-grayish), whereby the white rump color appears dominant compared to the black rump color.
Ringelastrilde have been able to expand their range in Australia since the colonization of this continent by Europeans, as they find more watering points by creating cattle troughs and benefit from a richer food supply. In northern Queensland, however, they are in places displaced by the nutmeg bronze male introduced there .
Habitat and way of life
The Ringelastrild lives in a relatively large distribution area in which it inhabits very different habitats. In the east he is increasingly populating the parks and residential areas, which is very convenient for him when looking for food. In the tropical north, especially in the steppe-like distribution area of the latticed winged fawn, it looks for its habitat in the fertile vicinity of watercourses.
Ringelastrilde are extremely gregarious and can therefore usually be found in groups. During the breeding season they stay in small groups of four to twenty individuals, outside of the breeding season also in flocks of twenty to thirty birds. Larger swarms usually only occur in periods of drought. The birds keep in close contact and sit close together in a row, for example. It also happens that they spend the night together in a sleeping nest. It can be observed again and again that they move skillfully in the branches or are hopping on the ground to eat.
The Ringelastrild uses different vocalizations to warn or to call. They are similar in sound to the zebra finch or the grass amadines. Its natural enemies are mostly snakes, lizards and small mammals.
nutrition
In the wild, the Ringelastrild feed on grass and herb seeds. Among other things, millet and fingergrass are proven . Numerous grass species have also been identified in Eastern Australia, which were first introduced to this continent by European settlers. They also eat insects and caterpillars. Your main activity period is between six and nine in the morning. To search for food, they only move up to two kilometers from the water points.
Since the Ringelastrild is becoming more and more a cultural follower in densely populated residential areas, especially in the east of Australia, it has been able to expand its food spectrum many times over in the course of time.
A suitable water point for drinking, but also for bathing needs, is sought in the natural environment at shallow rivers and puddles. Here the Ringelastrild takes the water - similar to the pigeons - sucking in the beak.
Reproduction
The courtship behavior of Ringelastrilden is rather restrained compared to other fine finches. The males only sing very short stanzas of the Nestlock call, but constantly sharpen their beak on the branches. The females are now and then hopping around with their tail plumage slightly to the side.
The barely camouflaged, tiny nests in Eastern Australia are mostly found in bushes or small trees at heights of about 1.80 m, rarely in knotholes. Especially in densely populated residential areas, the ringel deer like to look for thorn plants to protect against nest robbers or fruit trees as breeding grounds. It can often be observed that the hatchery is created in the immediate vicinity of a wasp's nest. In the north, on the other hand, he prefers low and above all dense shrub trees (mostly acacia species) or thick, high tufted grass plants and sometimes nesting sites in knotholes (protective measure). He prefers blades of grass and small twigs as building material, and grass is used for furnishing.
The ornithologists made an interesting discovery when checking their nests: In nature, the ringelastrilde always pad their nests with feathers, which is not the case with the lattice-winged astral.
The laying of eggs - between 3 and 6 eggs - takes place mainly in the southeast, mostly in the Australian spring and autumn. The animals in Northern Australia breed in the second half of the rainy season - from January to April - sometimes well into the dry season. This depends on the availability of water and food (for example near cultivated land and farms).
After that, both sexes are very firmly attached during the average twelve-day incubation period. The young birds, often loudly begging, live as nestlings for three weeks and are fed almost continuously by the parent animals for about two weeks after they have fled. The young animals have the skillful peculiarity of lifting a wing with the striking white pattern when begging in order to attract attention. The juvenile moult begins after about six weeks and lasts up to four months.
attitude
In 1874 Carl Hagenbeck brought the first lattice wing astrilde to Germany. Some time later, the Ringelastrild could also be seen in the Hagenbeck Zoo .
literature
- Klaus Immelmann , Joachim Steinbrecher, Hans Edmund Wolters : Birds in cages and aviaries. Publisher Hans Limberg, Aachen 1977.
- Heinrich Dathe, Joachim Hansel, Hans-Joachim Michaelis: Handbook of the bird lover. Weaver, finch, widow and passerine birds and other grain eaters. Second volume. Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1988.
- Jürgen Nicolai (Ed.), Joachim Steinbacher (Ed.), Renate van den Elzen, Gerhard Hofmann: Prachtfinken - Australia, Oceania, Southeast Asia. Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3249-4 .
- Peter Clement , Alan Harris, John Davis: Finches and Sparrows. An Identification Guide. Christopher Helm, London 1993, ISBN 0-7136-8017-2 .
