Redhead seed cracker
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Redhead seedcracker ( Spermophaga ruficapilla ) |
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| Spermophaga ruficapilla | ||||||||||||
| ( Shelley , 1888) |
The redhead seedcracker ( Spermophaga ruficapilla ) is a species of the finch family . The species is occasionally kept in Europe as an ornamental bird.
description
The redhead seed cracker reaches a body length of thirteen to fourteen centimeters. The beak is very strong, even if the species mainly lives on small grass seeds and millet grains. In the male, the head, neck, chin, throat, chest, flanks and upper tail-coverts are shiny red. The rest of the body plumage is glossy black. The eyes are dark brown to black and surrounded by a grayish to bluish eye ring. The female is basically similar to the male, but she lacks the sheen of the plumage. As with the grant seedcrackers and red breast seedcrackers belonging to the same genus , the female redhead seedcracker also has white drop spots on the rear underside of the body.
Distribution area and way of life
The distribution area of the redhead seed cracker, which occurs in two subspecies, is Angola and Congo as well as Kenya and Tanzania . It is generally absent in regions where the red breast seed cracker is common. The nominate form Spermophaga ruficapilla ruficapilla occurs almost in the entire distribution area. The subspecies Spermophaga ruficapilla cana, on the other hand, is restricted to a very small distribution area and occurs only in the Usambara Mountains in northeastern Tanzania. The habitat is bushy undergrowth, forest edges, paths and plantations. Its elevation ranges in East Africa up to 2,000 meters. They live singly or in pairs and are only occasionally seen in small family groups.
Red-headed seed crackers build a very large nest of balls. The clutch usually consists of four eggs. They are incubated by the parent birds for 16 days. The nestling period is 20 days. The young birds are looked after by the parent birds for a further two to three weeks after they have left the nest.
attitude
Unlike red breast seed crackers, red head seed crackers are very rarely imported into Europe. Probably the first time a redhead seed cracker was imported to England in 1934. After 1964, several birds came to Switzerland and since then individual birds of this species have been on the market again and again in very small numbers. In general, the redhead seedcracker is considered a very shy bird that needs aviaries with a lot of hiding places.
supporting documents
literature
- Horst Bielfeld : Knowing and caring for 300 ornamental birds. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8001-5737-2 .
- 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
Single receipts
Web links
- Spermophaga ruficapilla inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2014.