Pink-billed Parrotfinch

Identification

This is a large and robust parrotfinch, 11 centimetres (4.3 in) in length, with a long pale pink bill much larger than that of other parrotfinches. The adult has mainly olive-green plumage, but it has a black face, blue crown and nape, and the bright red rump typical of the genus. Its eyes are brown or reddish-brown, and the legs and feet are pink or brownish-pink. The sexes are alike. The juvenile is like the adult, although its plumage is; slightly duller, and it has a pale orange bill with a dark tip. The call is a typical parrotfinch high pitched tsee tsee or cheee cheee cheee. A series of clicks may also be heard.<p>A related species, the Fiji parrotfinch, E. pealii, also occurs on Viti Levu. This locally common bird is smaller, and adults have a red head and a much smaller, dark bill. Immatures have a pale bill, but are brighter green than their larger relative.

Taxonomy

The parrotfinches are a genus of estrildid finches found in southeast Asia and Australasia. They are small birds with short rounded wings and tails. Most species have green bodies, and all but one have the red tail that gives the genus its scientific name Erythrura, which is derived from the Ancient Greek ερυθρός erythros, 'red', and ουρά oura, 'tail'.<p>The pink-billed parrotfinch was initially described as Amblynura kleinschmidti by German naturalist Otto Finsch in 1878. The binomial name commemorates the German explorer and collector Theodor Kleinschmidt (1834–1881), who discovered the species on Viti Levu in 1877.

Scientific name

Erythrura kleinschmidti

Authority

(Finsch, 1878)

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Estrildidae

Genus

Erythrura

Range and habitat

The pink-billed parrotfinch is endemic to Fiji, thought to be only found in the wetter central and eastern parts of the largest island, Viti Levu but has also been observed on the Yasawa Islands to the north-west in 2012. This is a bird of undisturbed mature forest at any elevation, although it has been found to be common in one area of secondary forest, where it made a failed attempt to nest. It has disappeared from some previously occupied sites for reasons that are not known.

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

This bird is usually found alone, in pairs or in small family groups, and is less gregarious than other parrotfinches. It is normally sedentary, but outside the breeding season it may join mixed-species foraging flocks. The only known nest was similar in shape to that of the Fiji parrotfinch, domed with a side entrance. It was constructed of dead leaves, including those of bamboo, small twigs and lichens.<p>This finch feeds mainly on insects, foraging on tree trunks and vines, and using its large bill to lever open likely hiding places, probe dead leaves, and crush twigs and tree fern stems. It will strip bark in a search for scale insects. It will also take flower buds, berries and fruit, but is not the specialised fig-eater it was once thought to be. Although it feeds mostly in trees, it will forage on the ground.

Conservation

Population trend

declining