Padda

Identificazione

The Java sparrow is about 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in) in length from the beak to its tip of tail feathers. Although only about the size of a house sparrow, it may be the largest species in the estrildid family. The mean body mass is 24.5 g (0.86 oz), making it slightly heavier than its nearest known rival, the black-bellied seedeater. The adult is unmistakable, with its grey upperparts and breast, pink belly, white-cheeked black head, red eye-ring, pink feet and thick red bill.<p>Both sexes are similar. Immature birds have brown upperparts and pale brown underparts, and a plain head. Very young birds have a black beak with a pink base.<p>The call is a chip, and the song is a rapid series of call notes chipchipchipchipchipchip.

Tassonomia

The Java sparrow was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia oryzivora. The specific epithet combines Latin oryza meaning "rice" with -vorus meaning "eating". Linnaeus based his description on the "Padda or Rice-bird" that had been described and illustrated in 1743 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Edwards believed that his specimens had come from China but mentions the common name "Java sparrow". The species was reclassified to the genus Lonchura in 2020.

Nome scientifico

Padda oryzivora

Autorità

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Ordine

Passeriformi

Famiglia

Estrildidae

Genere

Padda

Areale e habitat

The Java sparrow is a very gregarious bird which feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. It frequents open grassland and cultivation, and was formerly a pest in rice fields, hence its scientific name. The nest is constructed in a tree or building, and up to eight eggs are laid.

Migrazione

Resident species

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione

declining