Lonchura striata
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The white-rumped munia (Lonchura striata) or white-rumped mannikin, sometimes called striated finch in aviculture, is a small passerine bird from the family of waxbill "finches" (Estrildidae). These are not close relatives of the true finches (Fringillidae) or true sparrows (Passeridae).
It is native to tropical continental Asia and some adjacent islands, and has been naturalized in some parts of Japan. Its domesticated descendant, the society finch or Bengalese finch, is found worldwide as a pet and a biological model organism.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the white-rumped munia in his Ornithologie based on a specimen that he believed had been collected from the Isle de Bourbon (Réunion). The specimen is now assumed to have come from Sri Lanka. He used the French name Le gros-bec de l'Isle de Bourbon and the Latin Coccothraustes Borbonica. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chongqing | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Zhuhai [Macau] | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Savar | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 6 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Hangzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Bangkok | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 10 | Chengdu | 🇨🇳 China |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aquarium of Genoa | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 2 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Zoo Aquarium de Madrid | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Zoopark Limpopo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Bird Kingdom | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Bloedel Conservatory | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Butterfly World | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a White-rumped Munia sighting in Sundarbans National Park on a given day, based on 36 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 117th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April and November–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-rumped Munia in Sundarbans National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and July–October, the lowest months. Those are among Sundarbans National Park's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain a month against 480 mm in July. May and June have too few records to rate.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-rumped Munia sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
21st of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate White-rumped Munia sightings, Sundarbans National Park ranks 21st at under 5%. The best odds are in Wilpattu National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%), Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 30%) and Minneriya National Park (Sri Lanka, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-rumped Munia is recorded against all the birds logged in Sundarbans National Park (36 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
