Pin-tailed Parrotfinch, The Bamboo’s Hidden Jewel
The Pin-tailed Parrotfinch (Erythrura prasina) is among Asia’s most dazzling finches, shimmering in emerald green, cobalt blue, and crimson red. The male’s long, slender scarlet tail — like a spark trailing in the air — gives the bird both its name and its unforgettable elegance.
This rare species inhabits Southeast Asia’s forests, bamboo groves, and grasslands, stretching from Nepal and Northeast India through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Malaysia. Usually shy and secretive, it often disappears into dense foliage. But during the rare years when bamboo bursts into bloom, the bird suddenly reveals itself — gathering in flocks to feast on the flood of seeds.
So closely tied is its life to bamboo that its numbers rise and fall with the plant’s mysterious cycles. In “boom years,” the parrotfinch becomes abundant, only to scatter again when the bounty fades. This unusual rhythm makes the bird one of the forest’s most unpredictable treasures.
Males glow with red faces and elegant pin-tails, while females wear softer colors but share the same graceful build. Their thin, high-pitched calls often betray their presence before they are seen, like whispers in the greenery.
Although not globally endangered, the Pin-tailed Parrotfinch faces regional threats from trapping and habitat loss. Protecting bamboo forests is essential, for without bamboo, this jewel would vanish from the wild.
For birdwatchers, glimpsing one feels like catching a living gemstone — a flash of color in the deep green, gone as quickly as it appeared.
