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Scaly-breasted munia (Lonchura punctulata)

Bondol peking or pipit peking or emprit peking or scaly-breasted munia or spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata) is a species of rice-eating and grain birds. Birds are small from the beak to the tip of the tail around 11 cm, mature brown in the neck and upper side of the body with slightly faint streaks of light and white stalks.

L. punctulata has a reddish brown throat, white underside with brown scales similar to the chest and sides, while the lower abdomen to white buttocks. Young birds have a chest and a deep yellow belly to slightly brown, but without scales. Males are no different from females in appearance.

Dlium Scaly-breasted munia (Lonchura punctulata)

The eyes are dark brown, the typical cheeks are bluish gray and the legs are grayish black. Bondol peking is often found in rural and urban environments, especially near rice fields. They live on the coast up to 1,800 m above sea level, even 2,200 m in Lombok and 2,300 m in Timor.

The main foods of this bird are various seeds of grass including rice and often visit rice fields, grasslands, vegetated open fields and gardens. Scaly-breasted munia live in pairs or in small groups and are often observed clustered eating grains in grass bushes or even down to the ground.

This group is generally agile and moves together, while beeping and calling to each other. The sound of the two tribes, ki-dii, ki-dii ..., call ki-ii ..., or ckii, ckii ..., and the sound of the danger signal tret ... tret ...



This bird is not reluctant to mix with other types of bondol including Javan munia (L. leucogastroides) or others. The bondol group may initially only consist of a few, but in the harvest season the rice will grow to hundreds of birds. The big flock looks striking in the afternoon when flying and alighting together in the trees for beds. Such a large group will cause great losses to the farmers.

Spotted munia often chooses areca trees or other palms and tall trees or shrubs for nesting in the shape of balls or bottles and is built from grasses to be placed hidden between leaves and twigs. The eggs are around 15 x 11 mm and are white. Breed throughout the year for 4-6 items.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Estrildidae
Genus: Lonchura
Species: L. punctulata
Subspecies: L. p. punctulata (Linnaeus, 1758), L. p. subundulata (Godwin-Austen, 1874), L. p. yunnanensis (Parkes, 1958), L. p. topela (Swinhoe, 1863), L. p. cabanisi (Sharpe, 1890), L. p. fretensis (Kloss, 1931), L. p. nisoria (Temminck, 1830), L. p. baweana (Hoogerwerf, 1963), L. p. holmesi (Restall, 1992), L. p. sumbae (Mayr, 1944), L. p. blasii (Stresemann, 1912), L. p. particeps (Riley, 1920)

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