Loading AI tools
Species of bird From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The grey-headed silverbill (Spermestes griseicapilla), also known as pearl-headed mannikin, is a species of estrildid finch found in eastern Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Tanzania. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 400,000 km2. It was formerly usually placed in the monotypic genus Odontospiza as Odontospiza caniceps and sometimes placed in the genus Lonchura.
Grey-headed silverbill | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Estrildidae |
Genus: | Spermestes |
Species: | S. griseicapilla |
Binomial name | |
Spermestes griseicapilla (Delacour, 1943) | |
Synonyms | |
Odontospiza griseicapilla |
The grey-headed silverbill is a stocky bird with a grey head studded with white dots. Its body is greyish-brown with partly black wings and tail and a white rump. The juvenile can be told by its white rump. Adult male is approximately 11.5 cm in length with wing length 6.5 cm.
The grey-headed silverbill is commonly found in dry savanna habitat but never too far away from water. It wanders widely, influenced by weather and shifting availability of sources of water.
The grey-headed silverbill is gregarious, moving in small flocks and often mixing with African silverbill.
The grey-headed silverbill feeds mostly on grass seeds. But it has been suggested that the species also feed on insects which are more a source of moisture than dry seeds.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.