Overview
Red Avadavat: Small active finch, native to South Asia. Bright red overall with small white spots, wings are brown, and tail is black with red uppertail coverts. Lores are black, white crescent below each eye. Red bill, pink legs and feet. Undulating flight, alternates flapping and gliding.
Range and Habitat
Red Avadavat: Common in marshy areas and fallow fields on Oahu, Kauai, Hawaii, and Maui. A popular caged bird that escaped as early as the 1900's. Prefers marshy areas and fields.
Estrilid Finches (Estrildidae)
ORDER
The Estrilid Finches are one of the one hundred eighteen families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez); a large taxonomic order that also includes the shrikes, the gnatcatchers, and the wrens.
FAMILY TAXONOMY
The Estrildidae (pronounced es-TRIL-duh-dee) family, which includes the waxbills, contains one hundred and forty-one species in twenty-nine genera mostly found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia.
NORTH AMERICA
There are thirteen species of Estrildidae in five genera that occur in North America (including the Hawaiian Islands). The waxbills and mannikins are members of this bird family.
KNOWN FOR
Members of the Estrildidae such as the waxbills are known for their colorful bills with a “wax-like” appearance. They are also well known for being kept as pets as they have pleasant calls, attractive plumages, and are easy to care for.
PHYSICAL
The Estrildidae are small finches with fairly short tails, short wings, rather short legs with strong feet adapted to perching, and rounded heads with large, stout bills suited to cracking open seeds.
COLORATION
Members of this family are often plumaged in attractive patterns of brown, white, and gray with black barring or spotting. Bright colors are common in many species with blue, red, purple, and yellow occurring in their plumages, while their bills are often colored red.
GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT
All of the species of estrilid finches that occur in North American are introduced species established from populations of captive birds. In North America, there are populations in regions with climates warm enough to support these tropical birds such as in the states of Florida, Hawaii, and California. They typically occur in habitats similar to those of their native range; open marsh or grassy areas.
MIGRATION
Like other introduced species, estrilid finches are not migratory in North America.
HABITS
Members of the Estrildidae are social birds that often occur in flocks while foraging, some species nesting in loose colonies. Although they take insects, small seeds and grain make up the bulk of their diet. They forage for these food sources in low vegetation and on the ground.
CONSERVATION
In North America, the estrilid finches are introduced species that are not considered to be threatened. In other parts of their range, though, some species such as the beautiful Gouldian Finch and localized Java Sparrow, are threatened by habitat loss and capture for the pet trade.
INTERESTING FACTS
Members of this family have filled a variety of seed eating niches, including that of bamboo seeding events; an unpredictable occurrence that happens once during a bamboo plant’s life. The parrotfinch species occupy this niche in Asia, Australia, and some Pacific Islands, usually occurring in nomadic flocks that are rarely found away from these rare seeding events.