I originally thought this was a commonly seen White-Crowned Sparrow. After it chirped a few times, my instinct told me it was a different kind of bird. Fortunately, I took a few photos and checked it when I came home. I found out that it was a Pin-tailed whydah. It may be a female or a non-breeding male. Adult males have very long black tails. I saw photos on the Internet. They are quite beautiful. I hope I can see a male Pin-tailed whydah in the future. I found an interesting article “This Beautiful Parasitic Bird Could Soon Turn Up in Your Yard ” by the New York Times. You can learn more about pin-tailed whydah and see a video about male’s courtship flight display. In the post of Pin-tailed Whydah in BirdFinding.Info, you can also see many photos to identify this bird.
我原本以為這是一隻常見的白冠帶鵐，但是它叫了幾聲，直覺就覺得這是一種不同的鳥，幸好照了幾張照片，回家查了才知道這是針尾維達雀，可能是雌鳥或非繁殖期的雄鳥。成年雄鳥有很長的黑色尾巴，在網上看到照片，蠻漂亮的，希望以後有機會能看到雄鳥。我找到了一篇紐約時報的文章，你可以進一步了解針尾維達雀，還可以看到雄鳥求偶的舞姿視頻。在BirdFinding.Info的 Pin-tailed Whydah 的帖子中，也可以看到很多照片來識別這種鳥。
Notes 筆記
- The pin-tailed whydah is a small songbird with a conspicuous pennant-like tail in breeding males.
- The pin-tailed whydah was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Fringilla macroura.
- The adult male has a black back and crown, and a very long black tail. The wings are dark brown with white patches, and the underparts and the head, apart from the crown, are white. The bill is bright red. The female and non-breeding male have streaked brown upperparts, whitish underparts with buff flanks, and a buff and black face pattern. They lack the long tail extension, but retain the red bill.
- The pin-tailed whydah occurs in much of sub-Saharan Africa, favoring grassland, scrubs and savannah, also coming into parks and gardens. In Portugal it is established in the region around Aveiro. It has also been introduced to southern California, Puerto Rico, and Singapore.
- The species is a brood parasite which lays its eggs in the nests of estrildid finches, especially waxbills. Unlike the common cuckoo, it does not destroy the host’s eggs.
- The male pin-tailed whydah is territorial, and one male often has several females in his small group.
- The diet of this species consists of seeds and grain.
- 針尾維達雀是小型鳴禽，繁殖雄性有明顯的錦旗狀尾巴。
- 針尾維達雀最早由德國博物學家彼得·西蒙·帕拉斯在1764年描述出來，並命其二名法的學名為Fringilla macroura。
- 成年雄性有黑色的背部和冠，以及很長的黑色尾巴。翅膀為深褐色帶有白色斑點，下部和頭部（除冠部外）為白色。喙是鮮紅色的。雌性和非育種雄性有條紋棕色的上半身，白色的下部帶有淺黃色的脅腹，淺黃色和黑色的臉。它們沒有長長的尾巴，但有紅色的喙。
- 針尾維達雀大部分在非洲撒哈拉以南的地區，偏愛草原，灌木叢和大草原，也會在公園和花園中。在葡萄牙可在阿威羅(Aveiro)周圍地區看到。它也已被引入加州南部、波多黎各和新加坡。
- 它是一種巢寄生鳥，它的蛋產於梅花雀(estrildid finches)的巢中，尤其是梅花雀(waxbills)。 與普通的布穀鳥不同，它不會破壞宿主的蛋。
- 雄性針尾維達雀是有領域意識的，一個雄性通常有幾隻雌性在其小組中。
- 它吃種子和穀物。
References 參考資料
- Wikipedia: Pin-tailed whydah
- Bird Finding Info: Pin-tailed Whydah
Birds Posts 鳥的帖子