Blue-capped Cordon-bleu
| Blue-capped Cordon-bleu | |
|---|---|
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| Ngorongoro, Tanzania | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Estrildidae |
| Genus: | Uraeginthus |
| Species: | U. cyanocephalus |
| Binomial name | |
| Uraeginthus cyanocephalus (Richmond, 1897) |
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The Blue-capped Cordon-bleu (Uraeginthus cyanocephalus) is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Tanzania in East Africa. This small finch does fairly well in captivity given adequate conditions, however, breeding this finch is said to be quite difficult.
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[edit] Habitat
The Blue-capped Cordon-bleu inhabits subtropical or tropical (lowland) dry grassland, shrubland and desert. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 390,000 km².
[edit] Feature
The finch is an omnivorous passerine, eating seeds and small insects. Most of this species do not exceed 7.5 cm (3 in.) in length and are quiet relative to other finches.
Blue-capped males (pictured at right) have blue on the tops of their heads and tend to be more vivid in color. On female Blue-Caps the light brown coloration on the wings extends to the nape of the neck and over the top the head.
[edit] Origin
Origin and phylogeny has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al.[1] Estrildinae may have originated in India and dispersed thereafter (towards Africa and Pacific Ocean habitats).
[edit] References
- ^ Arnaiz-Villena, A; Ruiz-del-Valle V, Gomez-Prieto P, Reguera R, Parga-Lozano C, Serrano-Vela I (2009). "Estrildinae Finches (Aves, Passeriformes) from Africa, South Asia and Australia: a Molecular Phylogeographic Study". The Open Ornithology Journal 2: 29–36. http://chopo.pntic.mec.es/biolmol/publicaciones/Estrildinae_finches_2009.pdf.
- BirdLife International (2004). Uraeginthus cyanocephalus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
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