Blue-capped Cordon - bleu

(Uraeginthus cyanocephalus)

di Enzo Patanè

"Allevamento Agata"

Scientific name: Uraeginthus cyanocephalus
Italian name: Astrilde testa blu

Also being similar in the appearance to the cordon blue, he is easy recognizable for the completely blue head and the completely red spout. It's with much probability the beautifulst representative of the family of the red cheecked cordon blue from which it differs also for the ransom and the more streamlined shape that come from the long tail.

DISTRIBUTION :

Southern part of the Somalia, where moreover it has been sighted little times, is present in discontinuous way in the western part of Africa to leave from the extreme part south oriental of the Sudan until the central Tanzania through the southern part of the Kenya. It's the less disseminated of cordons, preferring the barren zones seeds of the territory and not attending the human takeovers.

DESCRIPTION

It's a bird long around to 13 cm. The livery of the adult male is spectacular. The head, the advanced part of the chest and the flanks and the tail are of an intense tonality of blue, the advanced parts are tawny and the belly the chamois color. The under tail is white. The female have the blue parts on the head less extended and in the complex it is of a tonality more faded. He is not confondibile with the females of cordon blue and astrilde blue for the characteristic red spout. The young are similar the females but they have thespout dark completely.

MAINTENANCE AND FEEDING

Need of the same cures of the red cheecked cordon blue.