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Bird Name:

Java Rice Bird

Latin Name:

Padda oryzivora

Status:

Vulnerable

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Estrildidae

Genus: Padda

Species: P. oryzivora

General Information:

The Java Rice Bird is also known as the Javan Finch, the Paddy Bird, the Paradise Sparrow, the Java Sparrow, and the Rice Munia. Due to habitat loss and hunting and trapping for food and the caged bird trade, this finch has become uncommon within its native range.

Physical Description:

It is about 5.5 inches in length and weighs around 20 g. Its head, rump, and tail are black, and its back, wings, and chest are gray. The cheeks are white, and its beak, legs, and eye rings are pinkish to red in color. The sexes are similar in appearance, although the male's beak is slightly larger and its eye rings may be a bit deeper and redder. Juveniles are dull gray in color with blackish beaks. Several color mutations of this bird exist, including white, cream, and fawn.

Diet:

It mainly feeds on rice when available, but being omnivorous, it also eats other seeds, grains, fruits, insects, and even bamboo shoots.

Habitat:

The Java Rice Bird occurs on grasslands and open woodlands, and has also become accustomed to habiting in cultivated areas and along human settlement. Due to its affinity towards occupying, and subsequently feeding off of, rice paddies, this bird has become a pest creature in the eyes of many. It is a resident breeder in Java, Bali, and Bawean in Indonesia. It is known to nest in trees or buildings.

Reproduction:

Breeding season coincides with the rice crop harvest. The female usually lays 4 - 6 eggs per clutch. Both parents incubate the eggs, but only the female incubates them at night. Incubation lasts about 14 days, and fledging occurs approximately 21 - 30 day after hatching.

Tony Mandarich

How can i attract birds to my feeders?

I have this: http://www.aspect-two.com/csp/etail/aspect2/images/articles/cageFeeder/right.jpg with crushed bread, crushed wheatabix and cornflakes in it and i have these 2 attached to a bamboo stick (placed on each side) going through the middle of the big feeder so to keep the pigeons away: seeds are in that http://www.petsathome.com/assets/petsathome/products/1/4/6/14652_p.jpg http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/na/natures-feast-30cm-wire-peanut-feeder-for-wild-birds-by-natureand39-s-feast.jpg peanuts are in that. btw i live in east London

How long have the feeders been there? It can take a while for the birds to find them. What kinds of birds do you see in your local area? When I lived in West London, we had blackbirds, robins, sparrows, thrushes, magpies and blue-tits. I attracted the blue-tits with a peanut feeder. They seemed to just like the peanuts in the red bag and I hung it outside my bedroom window well out of the way of cats. If you have lots of cats around, they may be keeping the birds away. Birds like their feeders to be near some trees or bushes so if threatened, they can go for cover. You could try some of the dried meal worms you can buy for birds. That might attract birds like blackbirds. The sparrows (if you still have any near you, they are scarce in some places now), like mixed wild bird seed.