Painted Finch
Painted Amadine ( Emblema pictum )
The Painted Amadine ( Emblema pictum ), also known as Painted Astrild, a species of bird in the family of finches is ( Estrildidae ). It belongs to the fauna of Australia and is there in front of the northern and central Australia. It leads like all birds of Central Australia a very nomadic life and travels in drought years, large distances.
The Painted Amadine is the only extant representative of the genus Prachtastrilde ( Emblema ). We distinguish between no subspecies.
Description
Painted Amadinen reach a body length of 10 to 10.5 centimeters. The body bottom is speckled black and white, the top is olive-brown olive green to. The pointed beak is black on top and red on the bottom. Males have a red facial mask and also have red feathers on the body base on. Females are similar to males, but have much less red in the plumage.
Young birds resemble the males, but overall are colored matt and they still lack the red on the head and chest. Your drops stains on underside of the body are still dirty whitish. While the upper beak is up already black, the lower mandible of the beak root is initially gray and whitish.
Circulation area and way of life
The range of the Painted Amadine is the West and the interior of Australia. Your distribution area is the region of the Hamersley Range and Range ophthalmia. The habitat of the Painted Amadine is one of the driest areas of the Australian continent. She is here closely related to the water bodies mainly found at the foot of steep cliffs. She comes accordingly before in regions that are characterized by hills and rocky chains. Through the establishment of artificial water bodies such as cattle troughs and fountains it has its habitat may extend partially. It is therefore often found near farms and has been spotted several times in Alice Springs. She is a pure bottom dwellers, but is different from the Wachtelastrilde not be able to run on the floor, but moves on the ground exclusively hopping away. The flight is strong and enduring. Outside the breeding season they live in groups of up to 30 individuals.
The diet consists mainly of the seeds of various spinifex grasses. During the breeding season they also eat insects.
The Painted Amadine has no fixed breeding season, but broods whenever the required half-ripe seeds are available due to rains. Painted Amadinen are free breeders. The nesting material is made of twigs, coconut fiber, grass, plants, wool, feathers and bark. The nest is built in Spinifexbüschen and is rarely more than fifty centimeters above the ground. The nest usually has between three and five eggs. Incubation period is 16 to 18 days. Both parents birds breed. The brood separation between the two parent birds runs indirectly: The Alternating partner calls, after which the brooding parent bird leaves the nest. The chicks are brooded until about the 10th day of life. Once they have been used, they do not return to the nest.
Attitude
The Painted Amadine was first introduced in 1869 in England and 1877 imported by the animal dealer Christiane Hagenbeck also to Germany. For decades, the bird remained rare and according to the Australian export embargo in 1960 was missing in Europe, a sufficiently young population of Painted Amadinen to establish a sustainable breeding. Import birds came from Japan, where the bird was bred. Meanwhile Painted Amadinen in Europe are grown relatively regularly. In Germany, in the years 1995, 1997 and 1998, respectively 336, 190 or 403 young birds followed suit this type. The Painted Amadine can both be held also grown in a spacious cage as in aviaries and. At the food they do not have many claims. Simply use a small -grained finch food, egg food and red millet. For breeding the red millet is especially important. It incubates 3-5 eggs about 15 days. After hatching, the young birds 3 weeks left to be fed by the parent birds.