From Opus

Alternative name: Black-headed Munia

Lonchura malacca

[edit] Identification

11cm. Chestnut plumage, black head, throat, center of belly, and undertail coverts; white across upper breast and down the flanks or the white area scalloped with either black or cinnamon-chestnut feather fringes; large conical bluish grey bill.

Sexes are similar.

Juvenile: Uniformly buffy brown plumage, no black head, can probably not be safely separated from similar age Chestnut Munia.

Variation in plumage: several morphs are described, including one that looks similar to an imagined hybrid between Black-headed Munia and Chestnut Munia.

[edit] Distribution

Native range is India to the Philippines and Sulawesi. It is now found widely in tropical areas of the world, including the Caribbean and South America.

[edit] Taxonomy

Two subspecies are recognized: malacca and rubronigra.

This species was until 1996 considered conspecific with Chestnut Munia. Agreement has not been reached on which of the two offspring species should inherit the name of Black-headed Munia, and which needed a different name.

[edit] Habitat

Rural areas with tall grass, cultivated lands, grasslands, scrub, secondary growth.

[edit] Behavior

[edit] Diet

The diet includes seeds.

[edit] Breeding

The nest is a ball made out of dried grass, placed close to the ground in long grass or low bushes.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: a loud heh; shrill preep.

[edit] External Links