The double-barred finch (''Stizoptera bichenovii'') is an estrildid finch found in dry savannah, tropical (lowland) dry grassland and shrubland habitats in northern and eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is sometimes referred to as Bicheno's finch or as the owl finch, the latter of which owing to the dark ring of feathers around the face.

Taxonomy

Nicholas Aylward Vigors Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – 26 October 1840) was an Ireland, Irish zoologist and politician. He popularized the classification of birds on the basis of the quinarian system. Early life Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow on 17 ...

and

Thomas Horsfield Thomas Horsfield (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American physician and natural history, naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the Eas ...

described the double-barred finch in 1827. The specific epithet commemorates James Ebenezer Bicheno, a colonial secretary of

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

appointed in September 1842. There are two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

: * ''Stizoptera bichenovii bichenovii'' of eastern Australia * ''Stizoptera bichenovii annulosa'' of northern and northwestern Australia, described by John Gould in 1840.Payne, R. B. (2021). Double-barred Finch (''Stizoptera bichenovii''), version 1.1. 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.dobfin1.01.1 The origin and

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

of Estrildinae was studied by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena and colleagues who suggested that the subfamily may have originated in India and dispersed thereafter (towards Africa and Pacific Ocean habitats).

Description

The double-barred finch is a 10–11 cm long

munia ''Lonchura'' is a genus of the estrildid finch family, and includes munias (or minias) and mannikins. They are seedeating birds that are found in South Asia from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka east to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippine ...

-like bird. It has a white face bordered with black, brown upperparts and throat, and white underparts. The throat and underparts are separated by another black line. The wings are patterned in brown and white. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller and browner. A less common subspecies with brown or black underparts is known to exist.

Behaviour

The double-barred finch is

granivorous Seed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source,Hulme, P.E. and Benkman, C.W. (2002) "Granivory", pp. 132 ...

and highly

gregarious Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...

. Nests are built in grass, bushes or low trees, with four to six eggs laid per

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...

. The call is a soft ''tet'' or a louder ''peew'', and the

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

is a soft fluting, which is somewhat like the

zebra finch The zebra finches are two species of estrildid finch in the genus ''Taeniopygia'' found in Australia and Indonesia. They are seed-eaters that travel in large flocks. The species are: Previously, both species were classified as a single species ...

Gallery

Taeniopygia bichenovii 1 - Glen Alice.jpg, Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia Double-barred finch 8066-2.jpg, Gregory River, Queensland Double-barred Finch94.ogg, South-east Queensland, Australia National Aviary (13020192503).jpg, Nesting in captivity

References

* ''Finches and Sparrows'' by Clement, Harris and Davis,

External links

Video of double-barred finches
{{Taxonbar, from=Q927133, from2=Q106617089 double-barred finch Endemic birds of Australia double-barred finch Taxa named by Thomas Horsfield Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors Articles containing video clips Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN