Red teardrop cone
| Red teardrop cone | ||||||||||||
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Red teardrop cone |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hypargos niveoguttatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Peters , 1869) |
The Red Teardrop Feather ( Hypargos niveoguttatus ), also called Teardrop Feather , Pear Fink or Peters Teardrop Feather , is a species of the finch family . There are currently two subspecies. However, there are also suggestions to consider the species as monotypical .
description
The red droplet reaches a body length of twelve to thirteen centimeters. The sides of the head, the sides of the neck, the throat, the goiter area and the upper chest are crimson. The male has an olive-brown skull and neck, with the color intensity varying depending on the subspecies. The back and wings are cinnamon brown. The rear rump and the upper tail-coverts are red. The tail feathers are tinged with black and red. The underside of the body is black, with large white droplet spots on the sides of the body, formed by white spots that are on each plume of each feather. The eyes are brown, the edge of the eyelids is light blue. The beak is gray-blue with a darker ridge and a dark tip.
The females have an upper body similar to the males, the head sides are however olive-brown like the upper head, the throat is yellow-brown and the lower body is blackish gray. The drop spots on the sides of the body are narrowly lined with black.
Distribution and way of life
The distribution area of the red driftwood stretches in East Africa from the extreme south of Somalia via the east and the interior of Kenya via Tanzania to the south of Mozambique and Rwanda . In a westerly direction it extends over the south of the Congo to the east of Angola . The habitat of the Red Teardrop Deer are fringes of moist forest areas or gallery forests and dense bushland. It is particularly common in the bushes along stream and river banks and often lives in shady ravines. Its height distribution extends in East Africa up to 2,000 meters.
The Red Teardrop Feather occurs in pairs or in small family groups. He can often be seen on paths and trails for foraging, but otherwise he lives very hidden. Its diet consists of grass seeds and insects. The nests are built both on the ground and low in the bushes. They are ball nests that often have a so-called cock's nest on top . The clutch consists of three to six white-shelled eggs. Both parent birds breed. The breeding season varies depending on the location and usually falls in the second half of the rainy season. The breeding parasite of the red drip-tiger is the Codrington Atlas widow ( Vidua codringtoni )
attitude
The red droplet was first imported to Germany in 1902 by Carl Hagenbeck . They have been introduced very regularly since the 1950s and have become popular pet birds because of their attractive plumage and their trusting and tame nature. As with almost all African finches, however, freshly imported drop astrilds are very susceptible birds, as they reach Europe in poor health. A spacious and well-planted indoor aviary is necessary for their well-being.
literature
- 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
Individual evidence
Web links
- BirdLife Factsheet , accessed June 15, 2010
- Hypargos niveoguttatus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2014.