From Opus

Alternative name: Black-and-white Munia

S. b. nigriceps
Photo by Alan Manson
Photo taken: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Spermestes bicolor

Lonchura bicolor
Includes Red-backed Mannikin (aka Brown-Backed Munia, Chestnut-backed Mannikin)

[edit] Identification

Length 9-10cm, mass 9g.

Adult: Head, nape, throat, upper breast and tail black. Mantle, back and lesser wing coverts are chestnut or black. The rump, flanks and flight-feather panel on folded wings are barred black and white and the lower breast, belly and undertail coverts are white. Bill blue-grey, eyes brown and legs and feet dark grey.

Immature (S. b. nigriceps): Birds moult gradually to adult plumage; the head and throat are mottled brown and black and are the last parts to gain adult colouring.

[edit] Distribution

Most of Africa south of the Sahara, except the easternmost parts.

Immature S. b. nigriceps
Photo by rudydbn

[edit] Taxonomy

Black-and-white Mannikin has five subspecies:¹

• S. b. bicolor

• Mantle, back and lesser wing coverts are black
• Guinea-Bissau to Guinea, Nigeria and Cameroon

• S. b. woltersi

• Mantle, back and lesser wing coverts are black
• South-eastern Zaire and north-western Zambia

• S. b. poensis

• Mantle, back and lesser wing coverts are black

• S. b. nigriceps

• Mantle, back and lesser wing coverts are chestnut
• South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, eastern Zambia, Malawi, southern and eastern Tanzania, southern Kenya

• S. b. minor

• Mantle, back and lesser wing coverts are chestnut
• Southern Somalia
• Sometimes lumped with S. b. nigriceps

Some authorities separate nigriceps and minor as a separate species, Red-backed Mannikin S. nigriceps.²

Black-and-white Mannikin is sometimes placed in the genus Lonchura.

[edit] Habitat

Moist savanna and woodland, lowland moist forest, forest edges, parks, gardens.

[edit] Behaviour

Locally common; generally in small flocks. Forages both on the ground and from seed heads of standing grass.

[edit] Diet

Eats seeds of many species of grass; also small insects. Visits seed feeders, especially when natural sources of grass seed are limited (winter and spring in southern Africa). Also eats petals, nectar and filamentous algae from pools.

[edit] Breeding

The nest is an oval ball, generally of grass, but old-man's-beard (lichen of the genus Usnea) and wild asparagus stems are also used. Two to seven eggs are laid (October to May in southern Africa).

[edit] Vocalisation

The song is a short series of contact notes run together. Contact calls are soft kip (given with bill closed) and a short piping or whistling seeet seeet, usually given in flight; alarm call is a short harsh note.

[edit] References

1. Clements JF. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019
2. Dickinson EC (ed.) 2003. The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd ed. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. ISBN 9780691117010
3. Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ & Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Robert's Birds of Southern Africa, 7th edition. John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, South Africa. ISBN 0620340533
4. Sinclair I & Ryan PG 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. ISBN 0691118154

[edit] External Links