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Scaly-breasted Munia | Lonchura punctulata
Muskaatvink | Capuchino punteado
The Scaly-breasted Munia is an Asian munia that reached the Caribbean as a cage bird and is now the most widespread introduced estrildid finch in the islands. It is common on Puerto Rico, where it has been known since 1971, and on Hispaniola; from there it has also spread to Cuba, Jamaica and part of the Lesser Antilles.
Voice
A soft, plaintive whistled kit-tee or tee-ee, also in flight, and a sharp tick as an alarm. The male's song is quiet and audible only at close range.
Recording: Bo Shunqi 薄顺奇 — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
11–12 cm, compact, with a short rounded tail and a thick, dark blue-grey bill. Head and throat are warm dark brown, the upperparts brown. The white underparts are densely marked with dark brown scales, fading to white on the belly. Rump and tail have an olive-yellow tinge. The sexes are similar; the male has a slightly darker throat. Juveniles are plain brown above and plain buff below, without scaling and without a dark head.
Confusion species
Adults are identified by the scaly underparts. Tricolored Munia Lonchura malacca has a black head and breast and a chestnut back; Bronze Mannikin Spermestes cucullata is smaller, with a blackish head, white belly and barred flanks. In juveniles: young Tricolored Munias are almost identical, while Indian Silverbill Euodice malabarica has a white rump and a pointed black tail. Mixed flocks with adults help with identification.
Habitat
Open lowlands with tall grasses: verges, pastures, fallow land, the edges of cane fields, rice fields, wet grassland along ditches and marshes, and grassy parks and gardens. It forages in flocks, often with other seed-eaters, on grass heads and rice. The nest is a ball of grass with a side entrance in a shrub, tree or palm.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Introduced and established on Puerto Rico (widespread, most numerous in the north), Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica and Cuba, where it has been known since the early 2000s. In the Lesser Antilles established on Guadeloupe, Dominica, Antigua and St Kitts and Nevis, and also on Grand Cayman. Isolated records from the Bahamas, Martinique, St Lucia, Trinidad and the British Virgin Islands. Native from India and Sri Lanka through South-east Asia and southern China to the Philippines and Indonesia. Also introduced to Hawaii, Florida, Australia and Japan.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On Puerto Rico and in the Dominican Republic almost anywhere on grassy verges and waste ground in the lowlands. Groups often perch on the seed heads of tall grass and draw attention with their soft whistled call. In the Lesser Antilles Guadeloupe is the most promising island.
Conservation status
Not threatened globally. In the Caribbean an established and spreading alien that can locally damage rice crops.
Scientific name
Lonchura punctulata | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Loxia punctulata; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Lonchura was introduced in 1832 by Sykes. Lonchura is Greek, from lonkhē 'spear-head' and oura 'tail', after the pointed tail. punctulata is modern Latin for 'finely spotted', after the scaly markings on the breast. The specimen the first description was based on came from Calcutta, India.