Tricolored Munia
Lonchura malacca
Small, finchlike bird of weedy and grassy areas in tropical lowlands. Often in small flocks, which associate readily with seedeaters and grassquits. Adult is handsome and striking with rusty upperparts. Black head and underparts are cut by a broad white swath from flanks across the lower breast. Note stout gray bill. Juvenile notably plain, buffy brown overall with stout bluish-gray bill. Note the pointed tail, unlike seedeaters and grassquits. Native to Asia and spreading in New World as an escaped cage bird.
Taxonomy
The tricolored munia was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia malacca. Linnaeus mistakenly specified the locality as China, Java and Malacca. This was corrected by E. C. Stuart Baker in 1926 as Belgaum in the state of Karnataka in southwest India. The specific epithet malacca is a geographical misnomer; the species does not occur on the Malay Peninsula. The tricolored munia is now placed in the genus Lonchura that was introduced by the English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1832. This species was formerly treated as conspecific with the chestnut munia (Lonchura atricapilla). It is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Lonchura malacca
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Estrildidae
- Genus
- Lonchura
Range and habitat
The tricoloured munia is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. It inhabits wet grassland habitats. It may also be found in tropical lowland moist forest habitats.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Brown Noddy
Anous stolidus
Dark-bodied tern of tropical offshore waters, rarely seen from mainland. Breeds in colonies on rocky and sandy offshore islets. Sometimes found with offshore feeding flocks of boobies and other terns. Feeds by picking from the surface, not plunge-diving like most terns. Adult solidly dark brown with white cap. White limited to the forehead on immature.
Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant
Pseudotriccus pelzelni
A tiny, rotund flycatcher found singly in the understory of montane forest from Panama to Peru. Very nondescript plumage: darker olive above with a dull tawny breast and yellowish belly. Looks uniformly brownish in bad light. Usually stays low, where it perches quietly and sallies out to glean insects. Often detected by its snapping sounds and whirring wingbeats. Occurs from around 700–2,000 m, typically lower than Rufous-headed Pygmy-Tyrant but some elevation overlap.
Spotted Berrypecker
Melanocharis piperata
A small, rare bird of mid-montane forest. Male is dark gray above and pale gray below with a slight, pale tuft on the side. Females are dark overall and heavily spotted, with a dark belly and an olive panel on the wing. Male is similar to female Mid-mountain and Fan-tailed Berrypeckers but is longer-billed and shorter-tailed. Female is similar to Mottled Berryhunter but is much smaller. Call is a thin, high-pitch “tsiip.”
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.