Habits and Food
In Australia, during the breeding season Chestnut-breasted Muniais mostly seen in pairs, but in late autumn and winter months it congregates in large flocks, at times eating seeds of cereal crops.
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin is a highly sociable species, flocking in large number outside the breeding season. Breeding birds will join groups or flocks when foraging.
It has a distinct liking for Barley seed and thus the local people give it a name, Barley Bird. (Cayley 1932) The species is also fond of paspalum grass Paspalum longifolium, bullrush millet Pennisetum typhoides and Sorghum species. It is also been recorded that it feeds on feral millet Pannicum maximum and wild sugar cane Saccharum robustum in Papua New Guinea. (Bapista 1990)
Read more about this topic: Chestnut-breasted Munia
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