Schönbürzel (species)
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Schönbürzel ( Estrilda caerulescens ) |
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| Estrilda caerulescens | ||||||||||||
| ( Vieillot , 1817) |
The Schönbürzel ( Estrilda caerulescens ), also known as the red-tailed Schönbürzel , is an African species from the finch family . No subspecies are distinguished for this species.
description
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Schönbürzel reach a body length of ten centimeters and are therefore one of the rather small splendid finches. They weigh between 6.7 and 9.2 grams. The body is uniformly delicate blue-gray, colored a little lighter towards the head. Most individuals have a few white spots on the dark gray rear flanks. These are formed by white dots on a feather flag near the nib tip.
The gray color of the body forms a striking contrast to the rump and tail feathers of the bird, which are colored blood red. A narrow dark line runs through the eye area. Males and females look alike. Young birds are more dull in color than adult birds.
The Schönbürzel is unmistakable within its distribution area. The Cinderella Schönbürzel and the Blacktail Schönbürzel are similar to the Schönbürzel. However, both species have a black tail and the Cinderella rump is red on the sides of the body.
distribution and habitat
The Schönbürzel occurs in Central Africa from Senegal via Ethiopia to Uganda . The habitat is grassland with individual bushes. He also likes to be on the edge of thickets and gallery forests. It has also opened up human habitat and occurs near cultivated land, in gardens and on roadsides. In Nigeria it is also found in wetter areas, the raffia have -Dickichte. It also colonizes forest areas and thickets at the foot of Inselbergen.
The Schönbürzel has also been introduced in Hawaii and Senegal .
Way of life
Schönbürzel are a sociable species of bird that can usually be observed in small groups of six to eight individuals. Occasionally, however, these groups include twenty to thirty individuals. They are also more often associated with butterfly and gray astrikes. Schönbürzel, however, stay in tree tops more often than these two species.
The food of the Schönbürzel are grass seeds, small berries and fruits as well as insects. The food is also taken up on the ground. Most of the food, however, is found in branches or picked from grass spikes and ears.
The breeding season varies depending on the distribution area. For example, the Schönbürzel breeds in the Gambia in the months of August and September in the middle of the rainy season , whereas in Nigeria it breeds in October. He is a single breeder and according to the current state of knowledge monogamous.
Like many other beautiful African finches, the Schönbürzel shows a halmbalz. The male holds a blade of grass in its beak and jerks it up and down in front of the female. A second courtship ritual is the nicking courtship. The two sexes sit next to each other and nod to each other.
The birds build solitary spherical nests with a diameter of 20 centimeters. Occasionally Schönbürzel also use abandoned nests of weaver birds. The clutch consists of four to six white eggs. Both parent birds breed. The breeding season is eleven to twelve, the nestling period is 16 to 19 days. The nestlings are fed exclusively with invertebrates during their first days of life. Only then do they also receive additional seeds. After leaving the nest, the young birds are cared for by the parent birds for a further two weeks. After they leave, they do not return to the nest.
attitude
Schönbürzel are offered as ornamental birds in the bird trade with some regularity. They are extremely lively and agile birds that need a spacious aviary for their well-being. Observations on birds kept in human care have shown that Schönbürzel know every inhabitant of the aviary personally, even in a large aviary containing fifty to sixty magnificent finches. The ability of the Schönbürzel to know representatives of other species individually is also known from the field.
supporting documents
literature
- Clive Barlow, Tim Wacher, Tony Disley: Birds of the Gambia and Senegal (Helm Field Guides) Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd, 2005, ISBN 0-7136-7549-7
- Peter Clement , Alan Harris, John Davis: Finches and Sparrows. An Identification Guide. Christopher Helm, London 1993, ISBN 0-7136-8017-2 .
- C. Hilary Fry and Stuart Keith (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume VII. Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9 .
- 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
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Estrilda caerulescens in the Internet Bird Collection
- Estrilda caerulescens inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2013.