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Estrildidae
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Lonchura
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Five-colored Munia Lonchura quinticolor Scientific name definitions

Robert B. Payne
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 21, 2013

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

11·5 cm. Head is dark chestnut-brown, crown and nape duller, with grey feather tips, ear-coverts with fine pale shaft streaks, upperparts chestnut, rump, uppertail-coverts and edge of tail yellow to orange or maroon; chin and throat brown to black, belly white, thighs to undertail-coverts black; iris dark brown, thin eyering dark grey; bill pale grey; legs grey. Sexes similar. Juvenile is brown above, fawn below, brightest on breast, ear-coverts with thin pale shaft streaks; moult to adult plumage complete at 3–4 months.

Systematics History

Proposed races wallacii (from Lombok) and sumbae (from Waingapo, on Sumba) described on basis of rump colour; but plumage varies individually or possibly clinally (mainly dark in W and pale in E), and naming of races unwarranted. (In any event, name sumbae invalid, as preoccupied.) Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Lesser Sunda Is: Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Alor, Sumba, Roti and Timor E to Tanimbar Is (Yamdena).

Habitat

Grassland, cultivation, especially rice fields, lightly wooded savanna, large forest clearings and mixed scrub; sea-level to 1600 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Seeds of wild grasses and rice. Climbs stems to reach seeding heads; feeds also on ground. Forages in pairs and in small groups, occasionally in large flocks; associates with other members of genus.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Loud call of male a double "triprip", of female a single "peet". Song a series of soft "te te te" notes grading into two "weeee" legatos and ending in a series of soft complex notes, "pti-ti-pti-pti".

Breeding

Season Feb–May and Aug on Flores. Male displays in upright posture, feathers of head and belly fluffed, and gives soft song. Nest a ball of grasses, small and compact, built in tall grass. Clutch 5–6 eggs; incubation by both sexes during day, only female at night, period 14–16 days; nestling nearly naked (one or two tufts of down), skin pale pink, gape-flange blue (changing to white by 10 days), flange bordered black and lined with two black vertical bars, palate yellow with pair of long and narrow black lines (anterior bar incomplete in mid-line), tongue with lateral spots, black sublingual bar; nestling period 21 days; fledglings called to roost by parents.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Generally uncommon; moderately common on Flores and Sumba. Widely distributed, but at low density; generally sparse. In early 1990s, this species was trapped in most of its native range (especially on Lombok and Timor) for the cagebird trade; by middle of that decade, however, smaller numbers caught as this munia's popularity in captivity waned and demand fell.
Distribution of the Five-colored Munia - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Five-colored Munia

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Payne, R. B. (2020). Five-colored Munia (Lonchura quinticolor), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ficmun1.01
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