The grey-headed silverbill (''Spermestes griseicapilla''), also known as pearl-headed mannikin, is a species of
estrildid finch found in eastern Africa,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
,
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
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, capital = Nairobi
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, largest_city = Nairobi
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,
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
, and
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 400,000 km
2. It was formerly usually placed in the monotypic genus ''Odontospiza'' as ''Odontospiza caniceps'' and sometimes placed in the genus ''
Lonchura''.
Description
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.
Habitat
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.
Behavior and ecology
The grey-headed silverbill is gregarious, moving in small flocks and often mixing with
African silverbill
The African silverbill (''Euodice cantans'') is a small passerine bird formerly considered conspecific with the Asian species Indian silverbill, (''Euodice malabarica''). This estrildid finch is a common resident breeding bird in dry savanna h ...
.
Food and feeding
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.
References
BirdLife Species Factsheet* ''Munias and Mannikins'' by Robin Restall,
External links
Pearl-headed Mannikin Species Profile
grey-headed silverbill
Birds of East Africa
grey-headed silverbill
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN
{{Estrildidae-stub