The other day, I was roaming in the Sunday market, Gujari, on the bank of the river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. Actually, I was in search of some rare books (for which Gujari is well-known). However, my destiny took me to a zone of the market where pet birds and some animals were being sold. There were several vendors selling birds. I saw that all the vendors were selling budgies (budgerigars), but several of them also had some little birds smaller than house sparrows. With lot of curiosity and concern, I started going from vendor to vendor to check the birds closely. To my utter shock, I found that many of these little feathered bipeds were our native Tricoloured Munias that are also known as Black-headed Munias. When I asked their “price” (though I knew they were “priceless” entities of nature), I was informed that the birds were being sold at the price of Rs 200-250 per pair! 

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I was very dejected seeing these rich coloured pretty birds of reedy wetlands, wet grassland and paddy-fields in small cages of a crowded place like Sunday market. And it was much more disturbing to see several munias tucked into small mesh-bags, probably as a tentative arrangement before shifting them into the cages. “Unfortunate little birds”, I muttered. The birds that use growth of sedges (aquatic grass-like or reed-like herbs) on edges of some wetlands as their abodes were fluttering in small mesh-bags amidst the market-crowd! The thought that any lay person, having no knowledge about the birds could buy and carry them home just because the birds were pretty was quite disturbing. Fortunately, all the munias are sturdy birds and can live “happily” in precious cages if food (seeds, grains like millet, rice etc.) and water are provided properly. 

However, will all the potential owners know that pet Tricoloured Munias need nail-trimming as their claws/nails can quickly become overgrown in cages leading to entangling of the claws in cage mesh? In wilderness, these munias certainly need long curved nails as they facilitate gripping the stems of sedges or aquatic grasses while perching or climbing on such plants. In wilderness, these munias do not need nail-trimming as constant rubbing of the nails against the plant bodies prevent nails from overgrowing.

In nature, Tricoloured Munias are the gregarious little birds of reedy or sedge-covered wetlands and wet grasslands. The species name “Tricoloured Munia” is derived from its three dominant colours-chestnut brown, black and white. In Gujarat, it can be seen at some famous wetlands like Pariej and Narda in Kheda district. It also occurs in several other wetlands of Gujarat where cattails, sedges and reeds flourish. They are also known as Tricoloured Nuns or Tricoloured Mannikins. Ornithologists have named the species as Lonchura malacca. Though the species is currently Least Concern (LC) as per IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, destruction of reedy wetland habitats and uprooting them from their natural habitats to forcefully make them “cage birds” are certainly the threats against their safe long-term existence.

The author is the founding editor of e-Periodical Jalaplavit, senior scientist and Ph.D scholar from West Virginia University ketantatu1@gmail.com