NigelJE
Java Sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora)
Best viewed large.
We returned from the big island of Hawaii last Friday, timing it perfectly. There were no cases of Covid-19 on the big island while we were there and our home town had only one presumptive as we returned.
This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Java, Bali and Bawean in Indonesia and was introduced to Hawai'i. It is also known as Java finch, Java rice sparrow or Java rice bird.
It was found around our apartment in Kona.
The Java sparrow is considered by a number of countries to be an agricultural pest with respect to rice cultivation. An ongoing loss of natural habitat, hunting in some areas and trapping (as a pest) in others has led to much smaller numbers in the wild and sightings in its natural range have become increasingly uncommon. The Java sparrow is evaluated as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (uplisted from vulnerable in 2018). The species is also severely threatened by the illegal exotic pet trade.
Today it remains illegal to possess in California because of a perceived threat to agriculture, although rice-dependent Asian countries like China, Taiwan and Japan have not regulated the bird.
Lonchura is a genus of the estrildid finch family, and includes munias (or minias), mannikins, and silverbills.
Wikipedia.
p.s. The light is the morning sun, not a flash!
Java Sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora)
Best viewed large.
We returned from the big island of Hawaii last Friday, timing it perfectly. There were no cases of Covid-19 on the big island while we were there and our home town had only one presumptive as we returned.
This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Java, Bali and Bawean in Indonesia and was introduced to Hawai'i. It is also known as Java finch, Java rice sparrow or Java rice bird.
It was found around our apartment in Kona.
The Java sparrow is considered by a number of countries to be an agricultural pest with respect to rice cultivation. An ongoing loss of natural habitat, hunting in some areas and trapping (as a pest) in others has led to much smaller numbers in the wild and sightings in its natural range have become increasingly uncommon. The Java sparrow is evaluated as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (uplisted from vulnerable in 2018). The species is also severely threatened by the illegal exotic pet trade.
Today it remains illegal to possess in California because of a perceived threat to agriculture, although rice-dependent Asian countries like China, Taiwan and Japan have not regulated the bird.
Lonchura is a genus of the estrildid finch family, and includes munias (or minias), mannikins, and silverbills.
Wikipedia.
p.s. The light is the morning sun, not a flash!