Tricolored Munia

The adults have a bright brown back and a black hood. The lower breast is white with a contrasting, black belly patch. Immatures are dull brown. Length: 11 cm.; weight: 10-15 g. Call is a nasal "pwi-pwi" like a tiny horn. Tends to travel in a constantly moving flock with others of its species, rather than mixing with other introduced finches. Feeds on seeds. As a flock takes off, the whirring of the birds' wings is audible. Roosts in a nest at night. Lays 4-7 white eggs in a spherical nest in low vegetation. Uncommon in Puerto Rico, especially in the southeast (e.g. Aguirre State Forest); introduced from Asia where it ranges from southern India to Sri Lanka, and is sometimes considered a pest in rice plantations. Most legal importations have been from India.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; ESTRILDIDAE; Estrildinae. Also called the Indian Black-headed Munia. Until recently this species was called the Chestnut Mannikin. However, taxonomists have split that species complex into the Tricolored Munia and the Chestnut Munia (Lonchura atricapilla) which ranges from Indonesia and the Philippines west through southeast Asia to India and Nepal. The Chestnut Munia appears mostly chestnut-colored because it lacks the white belly and sides of the Tricolored Munia. The Chestnut Munia has been reported from Dorado, PR (specimen, 1985). However, it is not clear that the Chestnut Munia was ever well-established in the wild in Puerto Rico. With the decline of rice farming in Puerto Rico, habitat conditions are not as favorable for these exotic finches as they were earlier in the 20^th Century.

References

Camacho Rodríguez, M., J. Chabert Llompart, and M. López Flores. 1999. Guía para la identificación de las aves exóticas establecidas en Puerto Rico. Depto. de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales, San Juan, PR.

Clement, P., A. Harris, and J. Davis. 1993. Finches and sparrows: an identification guide. Princeton Univ. Press.

Moreno, Jorge A. 1997. Review of the subspecific status and origin of introduced finches in Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 33(3-4): 233-238.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. and C. B. Kepler. 1992. Earliest records of the recently introduced avifauna of Puerto Rico. Ornitología Caribeña 3:20-29.

Restall, R. 1995. Proposed additions to the genus Lonchura (Estrildinae). Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club 115:149-157.

Restall, R. 1996. Munias and mannikins. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT.

Tricolored Munia, Spanish text

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