Cut-throat finch

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Cut-throat finch
Cut-throat Finch (Amadina fasciata, male - Djenne, Mali, 2008).jpg
Male
Cut-throat Finch SMTC2.jpg
Female
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Estrildidae
Genus: Amadina
Species:
A. fasciata
Binomial name
Amadina fasciata
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)

The cut-throat finch (Amadina fasciata) is a common species of estrildid finch found throughout Africa; it is also known as the bearded finch, the ribbon finch, the cut throat, and the weaver finch.

Contents

Taxonomy

The cut-throat finch was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae . He placed it with the crossbills in the genus Loxia and coined the binomial name Loxia fasciata. [2] The specific epithet is from Late Latin faciatus meaning "banded". [3] Gmelin based his account on the "fasciated grossbeak" that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the English naturalist Peter Brown. [4] Neither Brown nor Gmelin specified a locality but in 1805 the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot designated Senegal. [5] [6] The cut-throat finch is now placed with the red-headed finch in the genus Amadina that was introduced in 1827 by the English naturalist William Swainson. [7]

Four subspecies are recognised: [7]

Description

The cut-throat finch has plumage that is pale, sandy brown with flecks of black all over. It has a black-brown tail, a thick white chin and cheeks, and a chestnut brown patch on the belly. The legs are a pink fleshy colour. The adult male has a bright red band across its throat (thus the name "cut throat"), while the male juveniles have a slightly duller red band.

It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 3,300,000 km2. It is found throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Sahel, eastern and southern parts of the continent.

Breeding

Cut-throat finches usually use nests constructed by other birds . A clutch usually consists of 3 to 6 white eggs, which hatch after an incubation period of 12–13 days. [8] The chicks leave the nest after 21–27 days but continue to be fed by their parents for a further three weeks. [9]

References

  1. BirdLife International. (2024). "Amadina fasciata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2024: e.T22719927A263791638. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22719927A263791638.en . Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  2. Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 859.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 158. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Brown, Peter (1776). Nouvelles illustrations de zoologie : contenant cinquante planches enlumineés d'oiseaux curieux, et qui non etés jamais descrits, et quelques de quadrupedes, de reptiles et d'insectes, avec de courtes descriptions systematiques (in French and English). London: B. White. p. 64, Plate 27.
  5. Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1805). Histoire naturelle des plus beaux oiseaux chanteurs de la zone torride (in French). Paris: Chez J.E. Gabriel Dufour. p. 90.
  6. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 388.
  7. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  8. Mclachlan, G. R.; Liversidge, R. (1978). "821 White-throated Seed-eater". Roberts Birds of South Africa. Illustrated by Lighton, N. C. K.; Newman, K.; Adams, J.; Gronvöld, H (4th ed.). The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. p. 585.
  9. Payne, Robert B. (2010). "Family Estrildidae (Waxbills)" . In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D.A. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 15: Weavers to New World Warblers. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 234–377 [301]. ISBN   978-84-96553-68-2.