Red avadavat

Red avadavat
Left - male♂, right - female♀

Pair of A. amandava from Maharashtra, India

Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Estrildidae
Genus: Amandava
Species:
A. amandava
Binomial name
Amandava amandava
Synonyms
  • Fringilla amandava (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Estrilda amandava (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Sporaeginthus amandava (Linnaeus, 1758)

The red avadavat (Amandava amandava), red munia or strawberry finch, is a sparrow-sized bird of the family Estrildidae. It is found in the open fields and grasslands of tropical Asia and is popular as a cage bird due to the colourful plumage of the males in their breeding season. It breeds in the Indian Subcontinent in the monsoon season. The species name of amandava and the common name of avadavat are derived from the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, from where these birds were exported into the pet trade in former times.