Sulfur girlitz
| Sulfur girlitz | ||||||||||||
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Sulfur girlitz ( Crithagra sulphurata ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Crithagra sulphurata | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The sulfur girlitz ( Crithagra sulphurata , syn .: Serinus sulphuratus ) is a species of finch from the subfamily of goldfinches . The sulfur girl occurs in East and South Africa as well as in the mountains of the Great African Rift Valley .
Several subspecies are distinguished. The IUCN classifies the sulfur girl as not endangered ( least concern ). The species is occasionally kept as an ornamental bird in Europe .
Appearance
The sulfur girlitz reaches a body length of 15 centimeters and is one of the largest types of girlitz . The plumage of both sexes is similar to, but the females are slightly dull in their plumage color.
The top of the body and the beard stripe are greenish-yellow. A wide stripe over the eyes and the beard stripe are bright yellow. A spot on the cheek is also yellow. The wing covers are lined with yellow. The underside of the body and the chin and throat are bright yellow. The wings and tail are green-gray with yellow edges. The beak is large and strong for a girlitz species. The eyes are brown, the legs are dark brown.
There is a possibility of confusion with the yellow-bellied girl seat , but this is somewhat smaller and has a significantly smaller beak than the sulfur girl seat. The belly plumage of this type of girlitz is also bright yellow.
Distribution area and habitat
The distribution area of the sulfur girl is Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania and the east of Zaire to the east of the Cape Province . The altitude distribution ranges from the lowlands on the coast to altitudes of 2,800 meters. Its habitat is open terrain with scattered trees and bushes. It is also found in riparian vegetation and marshes . The sulfur girl has also opened up human settlement space and occurs on plantations and in gardens, among other places.
Way of life
The sulfur girl lives mostly singly or in pairs. Occasionally loose troops form, consisting of four to twelve individuals. Very seldom, up to thirty individuals gather in places with a rich supply of food, but in general it is less sociable than other types of giraffe. He looks for his food mainly on the ground, where he moves mostly hopping. It is usually a little call-happy and inconspicuous bird, only during the breeding season it occasionally sits on raised waiting areas. The diet consists of seeds, small fruits and flowers. It also eats buds, leaves and shoots. Basically it eats more fruit than is the case with other species of its genus.
Sulfur girls are monogamous and territorial single breeders. They prefer to breed in thorny shrubs and usually build their nests at a height of one to two meters above the ground. The nest is a small bowl made of small roots, branches, plant stems and dry grass. The clutch consists of three to four eggs, which are pure white or greenish-white. The female breeds alone. The incubation period is fourteen days, the nestling period is 17 days. The young birds are looked after by the parent birds for a further two weeks until they are independent.
Out of 100 sulfur girls that have survived the first six months, at least 52 will reach the next year of life. Two females ringed as adult birds were recaptured seven years later.
literature
- Horst Bielfeld : Knowing and caring for 300 ornamental birds. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8001-5737-2 .
- C. Hilary Fry and Stuart Keith (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume VII. Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9 .
Single receipts
Web links
- Crithagra sulphurata inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2018.