Bird genealogy >> Order Passeriformes >> Family Estrildidae |
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The blue waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis) occurs in southern Africa from Cabinda and the Congo to Kenya and Tanzania in the east south to northern South Africa. The blue waxbill occurs in a variety of habitats but generally prefers well-watered and semi-arid savanna, particularly where umbrella thorns Vachellia tortilis grow, also occupying natural growth in cultivated land, mopane Colosphermum mopane and forest edges.The blue waxbill mainly eats grass seeds which are taken from the inflorescences, this is supplemented with termites and other insects. They have also been recorded eating the fallen fruits of Boscia albitrunca.[7] It is normally seen in pairs or family parties but it does form larger flocks which often mix in with flocks of other estrildids.[5] In the blue waxbill both sexes build the nest, which normally placed among the foliage of a bush or tree, especially umbrella thorn and sickle bush Dichrostachys cinerea. They often choose to build the nest near a wasps' nests such as Belonogaster juncea, there is no evidence that wasps deter nest predators, but the birds may use the presence wasp nests as a way of working out whether there are arboreal ants Psuedomyrmex spp in the tree, as if present they would deter nesting by any wasps or birds. Blue waxbills may also re-use the old nests of other birds. They breed all year round but egg laying usually peaks in January, tow months on from the onset of the rains in southern Africa. The clutch size is between 2-7, incubation is carried out by both sexes and takes 11–12 days. Both parents feed the chicks on green grass seeds and termites, until they fledge after 17–21 days. They are capable of fending for themselves a week after fledging, becoming fully independent a week later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_waxbill
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