Purple Grenadier
PURPLE GRENADIERS
(Uraeginthus ianthinogaster)
The Purple Grenadier (Uraeginthus Ianthinogaster) from Somalia, Kenya and Uganda, is a beautiful 5-5½” waxbill, closely related to the Violet-eared waxbill.
Cock: Bill red or reddish horn; irides reddish brown; orbital ring red with a patch of blue above and below the eye; head, neck and back chestnut brown, darker on the wings; tail black; rump blue; chin and throat russet brown; rest of underparts purple violet, unevenly marked; dark chestnut legs; feet blackish.
Hen: Whitish around eyes; upperparts brown, paler below; breast speckled with whitish and buff spots; rump blue; tail blackish.
The Purple Grenadier is a solitary species and must be kept one pair per flight or aviary.
Incubation time for the 3-5 eggs is twelve to fourteen days, and the young fledge in about three weeks looking much like dull copies of the female without the breast speckling. Sexes can be determined after about three or four months.
A 50/50 finch seed and wild seed is ideal. They also appreciate soaked finch seed, egg food, fresh greens, vegetables, mealworms and other live foods.
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