Double-barred Finch
Stizoptera bichenovii
Small white, gray, and black bird with a white rump and black tail. Adult has a thin black outline around pale face, lending a sort of "Barn Owl" look, as well as a second thin black breast band. Juvenile similar in pattern but dirtier gray. Inhabits open grassy habitats of far northern and eastern Australia, seen typically in pairs or small groups feeding on the ground.
Identification
The double-barred finch is a 10–11 cm long munia-like bird. It has a white face bordered with black, brown upperparts and throat, and white underparts. The throat and underparts are separated by another black line. The wings are patterned in brown and white. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller and browner. The subspecies S. b. annulosa differs from the nominate in having a black rather than a white rump.
Taxonomy
The double-barred finch was formally described in 1827 by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield from specimens collected near Shoalwater Bay and Broad Sound in Queensland, Australia. They coined the binomial name Fringilla bichenovii. The species was formerly placed in the genus Taeniopygia. A molecular phylogenetic study of the Estrildidae published in 2020 found that the genus Taeniopygia was not monophyletic. In the reorganization to create monophyletic genera, the double-barred finch was moved to the resurrected genus Stizoptera that had been introduced in 1899 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek stizō meaning "to tattoo" with pteron meaning "wing". The specific epithet commemorates James Ebenezer Bicheno, a colonial secretary of Van Diemen's Land appointed in September 1842.<p>Two subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Stizoptera bichenovii
- Authority
- (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Estrildidae
- Genus
- Stizoptera
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The double-barred finch is granivorous and highly gregarious. Nests are built in grass, bushes or low trees, with four to six eggs laid per clutch. The call is a soft tet or a louder peew, and the song is a soft fluting, which is somewhat like the zebra finch.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Medium-sized owl (but large for a screech-owl) with short ear tufts and brownish (not yellow) eyes. Fairly common in scrubby woodland, thorn forest, and edge of interior southwest Mexico where it is endemic. Sometimes seen hunting beside quiet roads. Usually detected by its gruff, bouncing ball song. Mottled Owl occurs in same areas but is slightly larger, with a rounded head and thicker dark streaks below.
Mountain Gray Woodpecker
Dendropicos spodocephalus
A mid-sized woodpecker with a golden-green back and gray underparts. The crown is red in males and plain gray in females. Usually shows a large red patch on the center of the belly. Found at middle elevations in woodland, savanna, and cultivated areas. The range overlaps slightly with the very similar African Gray Woodpecker; Mountain Gray is distinguished by the lack of barring on the wing and undertail and by the large, deep red belly patch. The main vocalization is an agitated series of rising “k-k-kree” calls.
Purple Martin
Progne subis
Large, dark swallow. Distinctive north of Mexico, where it is the largest swallow. Adult males are dark overall with a purplish-blue iridescence visible at close range. Females are grayer with iridescence on the crown and back, and variable splotchy patterning on the underparts. Immatures lack any purplish color and have a whiter belly. Gives a distinctive liquid gurgling call. In the eastern U.S., nests exclusively in nest boxes and martin houses; also uses natural cavities in parts of the western U.S. and Mexico. Departs breeding grounds in the late summer, locally staging in massive numbers. Winters primarily in the Amazon basin of South America. During migration and winter, identification is complicated by several other extremely similar species of martin. Identification features are not well known; some are best left unidentified.
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