Long-tailed paradise whydah
Long-tailed paradise whydah | |
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Male, Chobe National Park, Botswana | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Viduidae |
Genus: | Vidua |
Species: | V. paradisaea
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Binomial name | |
Vidua paradisaea | |
resident range | |
Synonyms | |
Emberiza paradisaea Linnaeus, 1758 |
The long-tailed paradise whydah or eastern paradise whydah (Vidua paradisaea) is from the family
Taxonomy and systematics
The long-tailed paradise whydah was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Emberiza paradisaea.[2] It is now placed in the genus Vidua that was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816.[3]
The long-tailed paradise whydahs are brood-parasitic birds along with the rest of the species in the family Viduidae. Primary host species include the Viduidae and the
Description
Viduidae species differ from one another in size, in breeding plumage and color, and in the songs used for mating.[4] These long-tailed paradise whydahs are hard to distinguish between males and females. Usually these paradise whydah finches grow to about 13 centimeters in length and weigh about 21 grams.[4] Female whydahs tend to have a grey bill and feathers that are greyish-brown with blackish streaks along with their under tail feather being more white.[4] Similarly, males during the non-breeding season tend to have mostly browner plumage with black stripes on the crown, black parts along the face, and deeper brown color for the chest and creamer color for the abdomen[4] However, breeding males have black heads and back, the rusty colored breast, a bright yellow nape, and white abdomen with broad, elongated black tail feathers that can grow up to 36 centimeters or more.[4]
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Male in breeding plumage
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Male going into breeding
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Female
Distribution and habitat
The long-tailed paradise whydahs are found in grassland, savanna and open woodland where they live in bushed grassland around cultivation.[4] Majority of the time, these whydahs stay away from surface waters.[4]
Behavior and ecology
The long-tailed paradise whydah are known to be
Additionally, these paradise whydahs are granivorous where they feed on small seed that ripen and fall on the ground.[4] For foraging, these finches use something called “double scratch” where they utilize both of their feet almost simultaneously scratching the ground to find seeds in dust and hop backwards to pick up the seed.[4] Another technique they use is their tongue. They would dehusks grass seeds with their bill rolling the seeds with their tongue one at a time back and forth against the ridge of the palate.[4]
Relationship to humans
Whydahs in general are known to be kept as cage birds for their song and colorful breeding plumage for many years.[4] In 1581, a renaissance scholar named Michel de Montaigne visited Florence where he was able to see these paradise whydahs in the Medici aviaries.[4] He described them with la cue deus longues plumes comme celles d’un chapon which in translation meant “a tail of two long plumes like those of a rooster”.[4] Ligozzi, a chief botanical painter of the Medici aviaries, illustrated a painting of the common fig where people later identified that the two birds in the painting were actually the paradise whydah and the indigobird.[4] Other than the beauty, the paradise whydahs can be a nuisance especially for farmers. For instance, in the highlands of Guinea and Sierra Leone, these paradise whydahs feed on small seeds of cultivated fonio which is known as “acha” or “hungry rice” before they can be harvested and that also happens to be the first food source available to the human inhabitants after the season of rains.[4]
Status
Widespread throughout its large range, the long-tailed paradise whydah is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
References
- . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 178.
- ^ Cuvier, Georges (1816). Le Règne animal distribué d'après son organisation : pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparée (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Déterville. pp. 388–389.
- ^ ISSN 0008-3550.
- ^ JSTOR 4076183.
- S2CID 22363915.
- ^ S2CID 17693319.
- ^ S2CID 84524204.
- OCLC 869799441.
- S2CID 84118406.
- ISSN 0003-3472.
- S2CID 53195903.
- S2CID 83665115.
- S2CID 54339389.