Tricoloured munia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tricoloured munia |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Lonchura
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| Species: |
malacca
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| Synonyms | |
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Loxia malacca Linnaeus, 1766 |
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The tricoloured munia (Lonchura malacca) is a small, colorful bird. It belongs to a group of birds called estrildid finches. These birds are originally from countries like Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and southern China.
People have also brought them to other places. These include islands in the Caribbean like Trinidad, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. They can also be found in Venezuela. Sometimes, this bird is called the black-headed munia. Young tricoloured munias look a bit different from adults. They have light brown backs and do not have the dark head that adult birds have. Their undersides are a plain buff color. This can make them look similar to other young munia birds.
Contents
What is a Tricoloured Munia?
How big are these birds?
Tricoloured munias are medium-sized birds. They are about 11.5 centimeters (4.5 inches) tall. Their wings can spread out to about 5.5 to 5.7 centimeters (2.1 to 2.2 inches). The top part of their beak, called the culmen, is about 1.2 to 1.3 centimeters (0.5 inches) long. Male birds often have a slightly more noticeable ridge on their beak. Their legs and feet, called the tarsus, are also about 1.2 to 1.3 centimeters long.
What colors are they?
Adult tricoloured munias have brown eyes. Their beaks are a light bluish-grey color. Their legs and feet are grey, and their scales are a darker grey. Young birds have darker brown eyes. Their beaks, feet, and legs are a horn-grey color.
Adult birds have black feathers on their head, throat, and chest. Their belly, thighs, and the feathers under their tail are also black. Between their chest and belly, and on their sides, they have white feathers. The upper part of their body is a warm chestnut brown. Their flight feathers are dark brown. The feathers under their wings are white or cream. Their rump, which is the lower back, is a reddish-maroon color. The feathers covering their tail are also reddish-maroon in males. In females, these tail-covering feathers are a bit lighter. Both male and female birds usually have a golden edge on these tail-covering feathers and on their central tail feathers.
Young birds are described as "warm brown on top" and "buff-colored underneath." They start to get their adult colors when they begin to feed themselves.
Life Cycle of the Tricoloured Munia
Courtship and Mating Dance
Like many birds, the tricoloured munia has a special way of finding a mate. The male bird starts by flying around with a long piece of grass in its beak. Then, he lands next to a female bird. He drops the grass and begins his dance. The male bobs his head up and down. As he gets more excited, he will start jumping up and down on his perch. He stands upright, with his head down and mouth open. His belly feathers stand up. After this dance, the male sings a very quiet song that is hard for humans to hear. If the female likes his performance, she will lower herself. She will be almost flat, with her tail and head turned towards the male.
Reproduction and Nests
Both male and female tricoloured munias help build the nest. The nest is usually built loosely and is oval-shaped. It has one entrance. Compared to other munia birds, their nests are quite large, even for their size. Some grass blades and stems stick out from the entrance, making a small "porch." Most nests are built away from people. They are often found in reeds or grassy swamps, about three feet above the water.
A female usually lays 4 to 5 eggs at a time. However, in India, it is common for them to lay up to 7 eggs. The eggs are oval and white. They are about 1.6 centimeters (0.6 inches) long and 1.1 centimeters (0.4 inches) wide. The eggs hatch after about 12 to 13 days. Both parents take turns sitting on the eggs to keep them warm. At night, both birds stay in the nest. The baby birds are kept warm for about 8 to 10 days. They grow their feathers in about three weeks.
Where do Tricoloured Munias live?
The tricoloured munia is a social bird that lives in groups. They mainly eat grains and other seeds. They like to live in wet grasslands. You can also find them in tropical forests where it is moist and low to the ground.
Tricoloured Munia as an Invasive Species
How they spread
The tricoloured munia has spread to parts of Europe, South America, North America, and Oceania. This happened by accident or on purpose. Sometimes, people brought them because they are pretty birds. It is not always known when they were first brought to these new places.
In the 1940s, some tricoloured munias were brought to Venezuela. Bird keepers wanted to breed them with local finches. They liked the munias' song. But when they found out the munias could not sing loudly, they released them into the wild.
A scientist named Dr. Fernandez worried that these birds would spread and become a problem. He was right. The young munias in Venezuela survived very well. This led to a "population explosion" of the birds in the next ten years.
Challenges and Success
At first, the munias had trouble surviving in Venezuela during dry seasons. The lake they used for water shrunk. Rice fields, which were a food source, were only available part of the year. However, another bird species started migrating to the rice fields. This led to a new watering system for the fields. The fields were then cared for all year round. This meant the tricoloured munia found a perfect home with food and breeding spots all year long.
The tricoloured munia has become a very successful invasive species. This is because the new places they live are very similar to their natural homes. They like warm places near water and fields of grain or rice. One study showed that these birds are especially good at living in rice fields. They did not spread to an area where rice fields were greatly reduced.
Why are they so successful?
One reason the tricoloured munia is so good at spreading is its way of having babies. For example, they usually have two groups of eggs each year. Each group has four to seven eggs. Their competitors, like local birds in the American tropics, only have one group of two to three eggs per year.
Tricoloured munias also like to build their nests over plants surrounded by water. This helps protect their eggs and babies from animals like snakes or mammals. Also, young munias survive just as well as local bird species. This is partly because of how they act to avoid predators.
Changes in their status
The status of the tricoloured munia has changed in some countries. In Hong Kong, their population seemed to decline. In Hawaii, they were established but not always mentioned in studies. In Venezuela, they were sold as pets, even though they were also wild.
Because they love grains, tricoloured munias have become a problem for rice farmers. In Mexico, they are listed as an exotic bird. Exotic birds can sometimes compete with local birds for food and homes. They can also affect the local environment.
Gallery
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Tricoloured Munia - Lonchura malacca malacca at Haiderpur Wetland
