Rose amaranth

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Rose amaranth
female rose amaranth Kruger National Park, South Africa

female rose amaranth Kruger National Park , South Africa

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Fine finches (Estrildidae)
Subfamily : Estrildinae
Genre : Amaranth ( Lagonosticta )
Type : Rose amaranth
Scientific name
Lagonosticta rhodopareia
( Heuglin , 1868)

The Jameson's Firefinch ( Lagonosticta rhodopareia ), also Jamesonamarant or Jamesons amaranth called, is an African species of the family of finches (Estrildidae).

description

The rose amaranth reaches a body length of about eleven centimeters.

The male's forehead, reins and eyebrow area are bright rose-red. The skull and back of the neck are brown-gray to brown, the back and wings fawn-brown. The rump and upper tail-coverts are kept in red. A black tail, sides of the head and undersides in red with white dots on the chest and on the front sides of the body complete the plumage. In contrast to the closely related dark red amaranth , the 2nd hand wing (counted from the outside) is not narrowed in front of the inner flag.

In the female, the top of the head, the back of the neck and the sides of the head are brownish-gray, but sometimes with a red tinge. It is very similar to the female of the dark amaranth . The rein area can be bright red depending on the subspecies. The fledglings are pale earth-brown on the upper side. They still lack the reddish tinge, only the upper tail-coverts are reddish.

Distribution and way of life

Rose amaranth, male

The distribution area of ​​the rose marantine includes southern Africa , east Africa to Ethiopia , furthermore Angola and small areas of the Congo and is estimated at around 2,600,000 million square kilometers.

Rose marants always live in pairs in the bushes of the thorn bush steppe or in the steppe forest. The habitat of the rose marant also includes rocky, shrubbery terrain and dry steppe forest. It usually occurs at low and medium altitudes up to around 1,500 meters in altitude. It basically occurs in drier areas than the dark red amaranth , but they occasionally occur together in individual regions. They live on smaller seeds, mostly grass seeds but also from insects that they find on the ground. In the Lochinvar National Park in Zambia , chicken millet , millet , urochloa and millet have been identified as food plants.

Towards the end of the rainy season and at the beginning of the dry season, the couples build their nests near the ground; they usually nest in small shrubs or in thick grass. Coarse, dry grass is sufficient for them as building material; the nest hollow is additionally padded with finer grass and feathers. The courtship is a stalk or feather ball and is identical to that of the dark red amaranth. The female lays 3–5 eggs. Both parent birds breed. The breeding season is twelve to thirteen days, the nestling season sixteen to nineteen days. The young are fed with insects and are independent two weeks after they fly out. After the breeding season, flocks of rose marants seem to undertake larger migrations.

The breeding parasite of the rose amaranth is the atlas widow ( Vidua purpurascens ).

attitude

The rose amaranth was first imported to Germany in 1911. The species has been introduced repeatedly since then, but never very frequently. However, it is very likely that the rose amaranth are often offered as dark amaranth. The ideal way of housing rose marants is an indoor aviary or an outdoor aviary with an adjoining interior. The aviary should have some dense bushes and tall tufts of grass to provide cover for the birds.

supporting documents

literature

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Nicolai et al., P. 174
  2. ↑ Nicolai et al., P. 174
  3. ↑ Nicolai et al., P. 174

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