Wienerastrild
| Wienerastrild | ||||||||||||
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Wienerastrild ( Pytilia afra ) |
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| Pytilia afra | ||||||||||||
| ( Gmelin , 1789) |
The orange-winged pytilia ( Pytilia afra ), also Wieners Astrild or Sansibarfink called, is an African species in the family of finches. No subspecies are described. Wiener astrilde are occasionally kept as an ornamental bird in Europe.
description
The Wienerastrild reaches a body length of twelve centimeters. The sexual dimorphism is not very pronounced. The males have a scarlet forehead and eye area. The sides of the head and the upper throat are also scarlet. The back and wings are olive yellow, the rump and the upper tail-coverts are crimson. The wing-coverts and the wings are, apart from the innermost olive-yellow colored wing, brown. The middle tail feathers are also brown, while the rest are dark brown and red only on the outer vane. The outermost tail feather is brown throughout. The underside of the body is yellowish olive-brown and finely wavy crossways. The beak and eyes are red. The female, which lacks the red on the head, forehead and crown, is more dull in color compared to the male.
The Wienerastrild lives in pairs or in small family groups. After the breeding season, you can occasionally see it in company with other beautiful finches , such as Buntastrilden and Blauastrilden . The food consists of grass seeds, which are mainly taken up by the soil. The breeding season falls in the second half of the rainy season and varies depending on the distribution area. The clutch consists of three to four white eggs. Both parent birds breed. The brood parasite of the Wienerastrild is probably the broad-tailed paradise widow .
Distribution area and habitat
The Wienerastrild occurs in East Africa including the island of Zanzibar . In East Africa its distribution area extends from southern Ethiopia to the Transvaal and in a westerly direction to Angola . It is common in the south of Sudan and Kenya , rather seldom in Uganda .
Its habitats are bush-strewn grasslands, light forests and the edges of gallery forests . He is missing in the rainforest and the completely open savannah.
attitude
Wienerastrilde were already kept as ornamental birds in the second half of the 19th century . Since then, they have been introduced again and again, often together with Buntastrilden. The number of imports was always small. In Europe, however, the species is very regularly bred by a small number of enthusiasts. While Wienerastrilde are very peaceful birds outside the breeding season, they become very aggressive during the breeding season, similar to the Buntastrild. Your posture is demanding. You need a wide range of animal feed all year round.
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 .
Single receipts
Web links
- Wienerastrild on AVIBASE
- BirdLife factsheet for Wienerastrild
- Pytilia afra inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2013.