Seed cracker
| Seed cracker | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Spermophaga | ||||||||||||
| Swainson , 1837 |
The seed crackers ( Spermophaga ) are a genus within the family of the finch finches . Three species are assigned to this genus, which occur exclusively in Africa .
description
Seed crackers reach a body length between twelve and fifteen centimeters and weigh between 20 and 28 grams. In the males, parts of the plumage are scarlet red, the remaining parts shiny black or slate gray. In the females, the red plumage areas are less extensive. The black parts of the underside - depending on the type of different expansion - and the under-tail-coverts show drop spots arranged in pairs. The breast is red in the females of all three species, the upper side mostly slate gray to dark olive brown.
The distribution area of the seed crackers is the inner and eastern Congo area as well as West Africa from Gamba and Guinea-Bissau to the Congo estuary. The distribution area of the redhead seed cracker is divided into four disjoint populations. One occurrence extends from the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the southeast of Sudan to West Kenya , another from Uganda via Rwanda and Burundi to Lake Tanganyika . Two other isolated occurrences are in northeastern Tanzania and in southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Contrary to what the German generic name suggests, seed crackers do not eat hard-shelled seeds, but rely on small seeds , such as the red breast seed cracker. They pick seeds from grass panicles and also eat insects such as swarming termites . The red breast seedcracker also breaks up termite mounds.
Seed crackers prefer to stay in dense undergrowth. The grant seed cracker can only be found in the dense primary forest, while the red breast seed cracker and the red head seed cracker can sometimes be seen in clearings.
attitude
As an ornamental bird, only the red breast seed cracker is significant. It was introduced in large numbers by the animal dealer Fockelmann in 1878 and brought to the market by Hagenbeck . The Grant Seedcracker has only been imported once so far, while the Rotkopf Seedcracker is sold in small numbers. The offspring is considered difficult. Very often the young birds perish before the juvenile moult is over.
species
The following three types are counted among the seed crackers:
- Grant Samenknacker ( S. poliogenys )
- Red breast seed cracker ( S. haematina )
- Redhead seedcracker ( S. ruficapilla )
supporting documents
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