Mystery bird: Red-throated parrotfinch, Erythrura psittacea

Red-throated parrotfinch, Erythrura psittacea (protonym, Fringilla psittacea), Gmelin, 1789, also known (erroneously) as the red-headed parrotfinch.

Image: William Kreijkes, 2 January 2007 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license) [velociraptorize].
Kodak EasyShare ZD710 Zoom

Here's a reminder of the original mystery bird image:

Image: Bob O'Hara/Journal of Negative Results, 27 October 2011 (with permission).
Ricoh CX3

Question: You're all busy with your holidays plans and preparations, but I wish to encourage you all -- especially you lurkers! -- to speak up, so I am giving you some satisfying "eye candy" and asking questions that are (hopefully) not exceptionally difficult.

If you woke up one fine morning and saw this mystery bird peering out at you, where in the world would you be? Of course, there are two possible answers to this question, and choosing (or knowing) just one of those answers is fine! Can you identify this mystery bird's taxonomic family and species?

Response: This Christmas-coloured bird is an adult red-throated parrotfinch, Erythrura psittacea, which is a member of Estrildidae, commonly known as the estrildid finches. The parrotfinches are small colourful songbirds that are found in lowland bamboo thickets, subtropical or tropical forests, shrublands and grasslands throughout southeast Asia, New Guinea, northern Australia and many of the small islands located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The parrotfinches primarily consume green (unripe) grass seeds, although they also eat fruits and insects. The parrotfinches are social birds, generally being found in flocks.

The red-throated parrotfinch is endemic to the island archipelago of New Caledonia, where it is fairly common. New Caledonia is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, roughly 1500km east of Australia. The red-throated parrotfinch's vibrant colours and confiding nature make it popular in zoos and aviculture. Unfortunately, they are not especially talented singers.

Embedded below is a 26 second audio of a singing wild red-throated parrotfinch, thanks to Xeno-Canto:

Recorded by Patrik Åberg on 3 July 2007 at Les Grandes Fongeres, Farino, New Caledonia.

You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.

If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative international audience here at The Guardian, feel free to contact me to learn more.

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