The blue-faced parrotfinch (''Erythrura trichroa'') is a locally common species of

estrildid finch Estrildidae, or estrildid finches, is a family (taxonomy), family of small seed-eating passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They comprise species commonly known as munias, mannikins, firefinches, parrotfinches and waxbills. ...

found in north-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, eastern

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

and

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, with an introduced population in

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km². It is found in subtropical and tropical zones in both montane and lowland moist forest areas, where it is most often associated with forest edges and disturbed habitat. It feeds largely on seeds of grasses, including in Australia several exotic genera especially

Brachiaria ''Urochloa'', commonly known as signalgrass,''Urochloa''.
USDA PLANTS. is a

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has classified the species as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

Origin and history

In the past, due to less developed observation techniques, very few blue-faced parrotfinches were spotted. As a result, they were overlooked in historical surveys and categorized as rare. An alternative name is Green-Backed Finch according to Gregory Mathews, Birds of Australia vol 12 p. 208 The first blue-faced parrotfinch was recorded in North Queensland, Australia in 1890.Kershaw J.A. (1918) Australian Green-backed Finch (Erythrura trichroa macgillivray). ''Emu'' 18, 1-1. This specimen had a length of 121 mm (4.8 in). Its wings were 62 mm (2.4 in), its tail was 50 mm (2.0 in), and its culmen was 11 mm (0.4 in). It is now kept in the

Melbourne Museum The Melbourne Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Located adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building, the museum was opened in 2000 as a project of the Government of Victoria, ...

. There were other important discoveries of the blue-faced parrotfinch in 1899, 1913, 1914, and 1944, all of which were spotted in north or north-eastern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Among the blue-faced parrotfinches in

, one subspecies is ''Erythrura trichroa macgillivrayi'' but its conservation status is unknown.

Description

Blue-faced parrotfinch males are multi-shaded with colors ranging from light yellow-green to dark blue-green. On their forehead and face, there are deep blue feathers, and their tails are generally red to rusty red-brown. In terms of length, they are typically 13 cm (5.1 in) long. On the other hand, the females are covered with a less vibrant blue and are slightly smaller and have more rounded heads. Among the birds found in

, there was no significant difference in

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

, bill shapes, or genetic composition. This is hypothesized to be caused by nomadic behaviors and the continued

gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as migration and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic variation, genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent ...

Distribution and habitat

The blue-faced parrotfinches prefer

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

edges and dense

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s that have

woody plant A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposed to Herbaceous plant, herbaceous plants that die back to t ...

s, and they prefer to roost in rainforests. They are widely distributed and found at various altitudes, ranging from sea-level on hot tropical islands to 800–3000 m in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. It is reported that the blue-faced parrotfinches engage in seasonal and nomadic movements, partly due to their cold-sensitiveness. In the winter, they

migrate Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

to the lowlands where there is excessive rainforest clearance.

Behaviour

The blue-faced parrotfinches are inconspicuous and timid, retreating to

s for cover.

Feeding

Blue-faced parrotfinches feed on grass and

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

seeds, small insects, and

figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

. They primarily consume seeds of ''Brachiaria decumbens'' ( Signal Grass), then the seeds of ''Lantana camara'' ( West Indian Lantana), ''Panicum maximum'' ( Guinea Grass), and ''A. patrei''. They are adaptive enough to eat introduced food sources when they appear. They forage primarily by perching (at an average height of 0.96 m) and less frequently by climbing and

pecking Pecking is the action of a bird using their beak to search for food or otherwise investigate an object or area by tapping it. Pecking can also be used by a bird to attack or fight another bird. Pecking is frequently observed in chickens and other ...

. Due to this, there is not much strong competition between blue-faced parrotfinches and their

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

species, who tend to forage primarily by climbing. Another reason for this lack of competition is that blue-faced parrotfinches partition food resources with other species by foraging at different preferred

microhabitats In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

. Blue-faced parrotfinches are generally seen in patches, occasionally with 30 or more birds. The number of finches seen together increases in response to sufficient food resources.

Breeding

The females usually lay an average of four eggs, with a maximum of eight. The average incubation time is 15 days, during which the female does most of the incubation and

brooding Broodiness is the action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to Egg incubation, incubate them, often requiring the non-expression of many other behaviors including feeding and drinking.Homedes Ranquini, J. y Haro-García, F. Zoogen� ...

. Meanwhile, the male is responsible for feeding the nestlings. The nestlings fledge around 21 days and continue to be fed by their parents for 10 to 20 days.

References

External links

Species factsheet
- BirdLife International {{Taxonbar, from=Q1050978 blue-faced parrotfinch Birds of Sulawesi Birds of the Maluku Islands Birds of New Guinea Birds of Micronesia Birds of Melanesia Birds of Cape York Peninsula blue-faced parrotfinch Taxa named by Heinrich von Kittlitz