White-bellied girlitz
| White-bellied girlitz | ||||||||||||
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White-bellied girlitz, Kenya |
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| Crithagra dorsostriata | ||||||||||||
| Reichenow , 1887 |
The white-bellied girlitz ( Crithagra dorsostriata , Syn . : Serinus dorsostriatus , Dendrospiza dorsostriata ) is a species of finch from the subfamily of goldfinches . The species is occasionally kept in Europe as an ornamental bird.
Several subspecies are distinguished. The IUCN classifies the white-bellied girl as not endangered ( least concern ).
Appearance
The white-bellied girl reaches a body length of 11.5 to 13 centimeters. The plumage is like a girl seat on the upper side of the body. The forehead, the stripe above the eyes, the cheeks and the underside of the body are yellow. A black, not sharply drawn streak of beard runs from the base of the beak. Females have a similar plumage color. However, they are less strongly colored yellow on the underside of the body and on the head and are more strongly dashed in these areas.
The white-bellied girl seat can be confused with the Mozambique girl seat. However, unlike the white-bellied girlitz, the Mozambique girlitz has a very sharply defined beard. The white-bellied girl seat also has longer control feathers.
distribution and habitat
The distribution area of the white-bellied girl is the east of Africa . It stretches from Ethiopia and Somalia through Kenya and Uganda to Tanzania . In some regions of its distribution area it still occurs at altitudes of 2,650 meters, but it is mostly found at altitudes between 400 and 1,400 meters.
The habitat of the Weißbauchgirlitz are savannahs and banks rich in bushes . It is particularly common in the vicinity of impenetrable thorn thickets. The white-bellied girl has also opened up human settlement space and occurs on paths, fields and plantations.
Way of life
The white-bellied girl seeks its food mainly on the ground, but occasionally also in low bushes. It lives mostly solitary, occasionally groups of up to six individuals can be observed.
The nest is built by the female. The breeding season is 14 to 16 days and only the female parent bird breeds. Even in the first week of life they are looked after and teased by the female alone . The male parent bird takes part in rearing from the second week of life of the nestlings. The nestling period is seventeen to nineteen days. After leaving the nest, the young birds are looked after by the parent birds for a further two weeks until they are independent.
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 .
Web links
- Crithagra dorsostriata inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2018.