The chestnut munia or black-headed munia (''Lonchura atricapilla'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

. It was formerly considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the closely related tricoloured munia, but is now widely recognized as a separate species. This

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. ...

is a resident breeding bird in

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Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

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Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

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and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. It also has been introduced to all the

Greater Antilles The Greater Antilles is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antille ...

and

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Before 1995, it was the national bird of the

, where it is known as ''mayang pula'' ("red maya") because of its brick red patch on the lower back which is visible only when it flies. (This distinguishes it from other birds locally called ''

maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

'', notably the predominantly brownish "mayang simbahan" ( tree sparrow) which is more common in urban areas.)

Subspecies

The chestnut munia has several subspecies that are recognized, including: * ''Lonchura atricapilla atricapilla'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla rubroniger'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla sinensis'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla formosana'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla deignani'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla brunneiceps'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla jagori'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla selimbauensis'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla obscura'' * ''Lonchura atricapilla batakana''

Description

Small, sexes alike, races differ slightly in intensity of color. in ''jagori'' Ad whole head, breast center of belly, and undertail coverts black; back, wing, and sides of belly chestnut, brighter on underparts, duller on wings; uppertail coverts dark reddish brown, underpart buff; uppertail coverts and tail as ad. Bill silvery gray; eye chestnut; legs gray.

Habitat

The chestnut munia is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. It frequents open grassland and cultivation. The

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

is a large domed grass structure in a bush or tall grass into which 4–7 white eggs are laid.

Characteristics

The chestnut munia is 11–12 cm in length. The adult has a stubby pale grey-blue bill, black head, and brown body, with a brick red patch on the lower back, visible only when it flies. Some races also have a black belly. The sexes are similar, but immature birds have uniform pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head and have white to pale buff underparts.

National bird of the Philippines until 1995

The black-headed munia was the national bird of the

until 1995, when that honorific was transferred to the

Philippine eagle The Philippine eagle (''Pithecophaga jefferyi''), also known as the monkey-eating eagle or great Philippine eagle, is a critically endangered species of eagle of the family Accipitridae which is Endemism, endemic to forests in the Geography of ...

. There, due to urbanization and the resulting lack of awareness of local species, it is nowadays often confused for the

Eurasian tree sparrow The Eurasian tree sparrow (''Passer montanus'') is a passerine bird in the sparrow family with a rich chestnut crown and nape and a black patch on each pure white cheek. The sexes are similarly plumaged, and young birds are a duller version o ...

because that species, one of several also categorized as "

" in the Philippines, is much more common in the urban areas.

References

* A Guide to the birds of the Philippines(2000) Robert S. Kennedy pedro C. Gonzales, Edward C, Dickinson Hector C. Miranda, jr. & Timothy H. Fisher * ''Birds of India'' by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, * ''Munias and Mannikins'' by Robin Restall,

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q766579 chestnut munia Birds of East India Birds of Bangladesh Birds of South China Birds of Southeast Asia Birds of the Dominican Republic chestnut munia chestnut munia