Jameson's Firefinch
Female Rosenamarant Kruger National Park, South Africa
The Rosenamarant ( Lagonosticta rhodopareia ), also called Jamesonamarant or Jamesons amaranth, is an African bird of the family of finches ( Estrildidae ).
Description
The Rosenamarant reaches a body length of about eleven inches.
In the male forehead, reins and eyebrow area are rosenrot lively. The top of the head and hind neck is brown -gray to brown, fawn back and wings. Rump and upper tail-coverts are decorated in red. A black tail, head pages and sub- pages in red with white spots on the chest and on the front sides of the body complete the plumage. In contrast to the closely related Dark Red Amaranten the second hand rocker (counting from the outside) not narrowed in front of the inner web.
In the female, the upper head, lower neck and sides of the head are brownish - gray, but sometimes with red approach. It has very close resemblance to the female of the Dunkelamaranten. The reins area may be bright red depending on the subspecies. The young birds are pale earth brown on the body top. Do you still need the reddish approach, only the upper tail-coverts are reddish.
Dissemination and lifestyle
The distribution area of Rosenamaranten includes Southern Africa, East Africa to Ethiopia, Angola and also small areas of the Congo and is estimated at around 2,600,000 million square kilometers.
Rosenamaranten live in pairs in the shore bushes the bush steppe or steppe forest. This habitat of Rosenamarants but also include rocky, scrubby terrain with stock and dry steppe forest. He usually comes in low and medium altitudes ago to about 1,500 meters in altitude. It basically comes in drier areas than the Dunkelamarant before, however, they occur in different regions together occasionally on. They live on small seeds, mostly grass seeds but also by insects, which they find on the ground. In Lochinvar National Park, Zambia, among other chicken millet, brush millet, Urochloa and Rispenhirsen were detected as food plants.
Towards the end of the rainy season and at the beginning of the dry season to build the pairs nest near the ground; they nest mostly in small shrubs or in thick grass. As a building material is enough for them coarse, dry grass; the nest cavity is also lined with finer grass and feathers. The courtship is a blade of grass or Federbalz and identical with that of the Dunkelamaranten. The female lays 3-5 eggs. Both parents birds nest. The incubation period is twelve to thirteen days, the nestling period sixteen to nineteen days. The young are fed on insects and two weeks after fledging independent. After the breeding season flocks of Rosenamaranten larger hikes seem to make.
The brood parasite of Rosenamarant is the Atlas widow ( Vidua purpurascens ).
Attitude
The Rosenamarant was first imported to Germany in 1911. The species has since been introduced again and again, but never very common. However, it is very likely that the Rosenamaranten are often offered as Dunkelamarant. The ideal way for accommodation Rosenamaranten is a indoor aviary or a free aviary with subsequent interior. The aviary should be some dense bushes and high grass tufts have to offer birds cover.