Estrildinae

The Estrildinae (waxbills) are a subfamily of the Passeridae that includes the munias, mannikins, and parrot finches. Other subfamilies within the Passeridae are the Passerinae (sparrows and snowfinches), Motacillinae (wagtails and pipits), Prunellinae (accentors), and Ploceinae (weavers).

Howard & Moore 2003 splits the Estrildinae between Estrildinae (Estrilda, Amandava) and Lonchurinae (Erythrura, Lonchura).

A number of the Estrildinae are familiar as cage birds. Some exotic species have escaped from captivity to become established in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.

Chinese:

The Lonchura are known as 文鸟 wén-niǎo, which may be loosely translated as 'culture bird' or 'literature bird'.

Amandava amandava, popular for its red colour, is known as the 梅花雀 méi-huā-què 'plum flower sparrow/finch' or 红花雀 hóng-huā-què 'red flower sparrow/finch'.

The introduced Java sparrow has become widely established in southern China. It is known as the 禾雀 hé-què 'grain sparrow' or 爪哇雀 Zhǎowā què 'Java sparrow'.

Japanese:

A number of Lonchura species have become established in Japan as escaped cage birds. They include the キンパラ kinpara 'golden belly' (written 金腹) and ギンパラ ginpara 'silver belly' (written 銀腹), used for members of Lonchura.

Amandava amandava is known as ベニズズメ beni suzume or 'red sparrow', written 紅雀.

The Java sparrow, established in parts of Japan, is known as the ブンチョウ bun-chō, written 文鳥. (In Chinese this is the name given to the Lonchura).

Vietnamese:

The Vietnamese name for the Lonchura and Erythrura prasina is Di.

Like the Chinese, the Vietnamese know Amandava amandava as the 'plum flower', Mai hoa, using a Chinese loan word. While many Vietnamese birds in the wild do not have Chinese names, the fact that a cage bird does suggests a shared culture in this area.

The Java sparrow is not listed by bird lists, either because it does not occur in Vietnam or because it is not regarded as a native bird.

The distribution of the Estrildinae in East Asia can be found at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of the Passeridae in East Asia.