Red Avadavat

Overview

Red Avadavat: Small active finch, native to South Asia. Bright red overall with small white spots, wings are brown, and tail is black with red uppertail coverts. Lores are black, white crescent below each eye. Red bill, pink legs and feet. Undulating flight, alternates flapping and gliding.

Range and Habitat

Red Avadavat: Common in marshy areas and fallow fields on Oahu, Kauai, Hawaii, and Maui. A popular caged bird that escaped as early as the 1900's. Prefers marshy areas and fields.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Red Avadavat is also known as the Red Munia and Strawberry Finch. The species name amandava and the common name avadavat are both derived from the city Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, India. This is where they were first exported into the pet trade.
They are the only waxbill where the male goes out of color when not breeding.
A group of finches has many collective nouns, including a "charm", "company", and "trembling" of finches.

The Red Avadavat has a large global range, estimated at approximately ten million square kilometers. It is primarily found in Asia, though it has been introduced to the United States, Fiji, and Puerto Rico. This bird prefers Subtropical and Tropical Forest, Shrubland, and Grassland ecosystems as well as Wetlands, arable land, and plantations. The population of the bird has not been determined but fully but the bird is considered common in many of its native areas. The Red Avadavat does not currently meet the criteria for the IUCN Red List and has an evaluation level of Least Concern.