Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu
Butterfly Fink ( Uraeginthus bengalus )
The butterfly Fink ( Uraeginthus bengalus ), also called Schmetterlingsastrild or Rotohriger butterfly Fink, is an African species of the family of finches. It occurs in numerous subspecies, although the exact number is still debatable.
Together with the Veilchenastrild and the blue head and Angola Butterfly Fink he belongs to the genus Blauastrilde. Butterfly finches are relatively commonly kept as ornamental birds in Europe.
Description
The butterfly Fink reaches a length of twelve inches, making it one of the medium sized finch species. The plumage has gray and bright blue colors that are typical of all Blauastrilde. The female lacks the red cheek spots, based on which the males from those of Angola and blue butterfly head - finches can be distinguished. The blue plumage games are also in the female than in the male matte colored and of a smaller dimension. Depending on subspecies, the sides of the body can be brownish and the sides of the head and throat brownish instead of blue. Juveniles are brownish and generally brighter than the adult birds. They are only on the upper tail-coverts, and the tail, the throat and the crop area matt blue.
Circulation area and way of life
The distribution area of the butterfly finch is very large. It extends from West to East Africa and thence southwestward to Angola. The habitat are thorn thickets of drylands, tree steppe and sparse dry forest. If water is nearby, they tringen far into the dry steppe. Their height distribution in Ethiopia reached 2,400 meters. He has also opened up human settlement area and is among other things on the edge of villages. The food is predominantly absorbed by the soil and consists of small seeds, addition, termites and other insects.
The incubation period varies depending on the location and falls in the rainy season and the beginning of the dry season. As the Angola Butterfly Fink also shows the butterfly Fink a Halmbalz. In the case of the butterfly finches but also the female shows a Halmbalz, but rarely during the male Balztanzes. In most cases, this dance of the female is only to see if the male is not near.
Butterfly finches build their nests in dense thorn bushes ball and prefer doing the near - wasps and hornets nests that will help keep predators away from the nest. They occasionally use the abandoned nests of weaver birds. The nest consists of four to five white eggs. These are incubated for 14 days from the parent birds. The nestling period is three weeks. After the young birds have left the nest, they are cared for another two to three weeks from the parents birds.
Attitude
The butterfly Fink part because of its attractive color and pattern to the most popular and widely held African finches. However, it is no longer detectable when it was first kept and bred in Europe. Butterfly finches are still regularly imported, although they are now very often bred. Like almost all finches are these imported birds particularly vulnerable because they can tolerate the stress of transport not good and the welfare during transport are not appropriate to the species. Particularly sensitive to the males seem to be, so that male butterfly finches commercially available are sometimes harder than females.