Nombre en español: Capuchino Tricolor

Nombre en ingles: Tricolored Munia

Nombre científico: Lonchura malacca

Familia: Estrildidae

Foto: Wilmer Quiceno

Canto: Frank Lambert

El capuchino tricolor (Lonchura malacca) ave de la familia Estrildidae del orden Passeriformes originaria de la India y Sri Lanka.

La especie ha sido introducida en Australia, Cuba, Haití, Jamaica, Japón, Portugal, Puerto Rico, República Dominicana Colombia y Venezuela.²

Este pinzón es conocido como capuchino de cabeza negra. En Colombia se le ha dado un nombre incorrecto desde su introducción, el de Alondra pico de diamante; ya que no comparte filación alguna con la citada avecilla,³ y en Cuba se ha naturalizado desde 1990, también se conoce como monjita tricolor.⁴

Hábitat

El capuchino tricolor o monjita tricolor es una pequeña ave gregaria que se alimenta principalmente de semillas gramíneas y otras. Frecuenta áreas de pastizales húmedos y cultivos como los arrozales. Puede ser encontrada también en bosques húmedos tropicales de tierras bajas.

Tricoloured munia

The tricoloured munia (Lonchura malacca) is an estrildid finch, native to Bangladesh,^[2] India, Sri Lanka, and southern China. The species was also introduced to Trinidad, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. This species like the chestnut munia has been known as the black-headed munia. Immature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head found in adults, and have uniform buff underparts that can be confused with immatures of other munias such as the scaly-breasted munia.

Taxonomy

The chestnut munia was formerly considered conspecific with this species. Estrildinae may have originated in India and dispersed thereafter (towards Africa and Pacific Ocean habitats).

Habitat

The tricoloured munia is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. It inhabits wet grassland habitats. It may also be found in tropical lowland moist forest habitats.

Also known as the Chestnut Mannikin or Black-headed Munia, this species is a native of southern Asia, as well as parts of Indonesia and the Philippines. It has become naturalised in various parts of the world, including southern Europe and several Pacific islands. The plumage is principally chestnut-brown with a black head and throat, and separate black belly patch; some races have the rest of the underparts white. The Tricolored Munia has been widely introduced into the Greater Antilles, where it appears to be established, at least locally, and has perhaps sometimes spread naturally, on Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, with another population on Martinique, in the Lesser Antilles. Most of those birds on Puerto Rico apparently belong to the nominate subspecies, which has white on the underparts (and is sometimes classified as a separate species), but chestnut-bellied Lonchura malacca atricapilla has also been recorded. The Tricolored Munia also appears to have become established in the Cauca and Magdalena Valleys of Colombia, where it inhabits rice fields up to 2000 m, as well as on Trinidad (since 2007) and in Chiapas (Mexico), and perhaps also Ecuador and Venezuela.