Africa Wild Bird Book

[nan]

842. Red-billed Firefinch Lagonosticta senegala (Rooibekvuurvinkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae

Red-billed Firefinch.jpg (45.79 KiB) Viewed 824 times

Description
Size 9-10 cm. Only firefinch in region with combination of pinkish bill and red rump. The pink and bright bill, pale yellow eye-ring are diagnostic in both sexes. Iris brown and eye rims yellow. Distinquished from other Firefinches by reddish bill or, in mixed parties, by the grey-brown females.
The adult male has scarlet plumage and brown wings and an almost entirely red head and breast. Red is most extensive on forehead and hind neck. Lower belly and undertail coverts deep buff/rose red. Sides of the breast spotted with small white spots to varying degrees.
The female is much duller, with only the lores, rump and upper tail pink, and is otherwise sandy brown. Red stripe from base of lower mandible to, and sometimes over, the eye. White spots on the breast larger and usually more profuse than on the male.
The juvenile resembles the female but lacks the yellow eye-ring, the pink lores and white spots. It has an entirely black bill.
Similar species: Brown Firefinch is much more dusky and has a brown (not pinkish-red) rump. Male has red confined to upper breast and face; female red only on throat and lores. Juv Red-billed Firefinch frequently mistaken for Brown Firefinch because dull reddish rump often hard to see in poor light. Jameson's and African Firefinches have black (not red) bills; males with lower bellies and undertails black (not deep buff). African Firefinch male has mostly grey (not pinkish-red) head; female has underparts pinkish buff (not buff).

Distribution
It occurs across much of sub-Saharan Africa, excluding the Lowland forest in and around the DRC, from Senegal to Somalia south to southern Africa. Here it is common from Zimbabwe and Mozambique west to northern Botswana and Namibia and south to north-eastern and northern South Africa, while more scarce in the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape.



Habitat
It generally prefers rank grass and thickets with patches of bare soil, especially in moist woodland and Acacia savanna, also occupying cultivated fields and thickets near water.

Diet
It mainly eats grass seeds taken from the ground, supplemented with insects, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks along with other seedeaters.

Breeding
Monogamous. The nest is built solely by the male, consisting of a ball-shaped structure with a side entrance, made of dry grass blades with an inner shell of grass inflorescences, lined with feathers. It is typically placed in plant debris beneath a tree or bush, alternatively in a thatch roof, hedge or hole in a wall. Egg-laying season is almost year-round, peaking from December-June. It lays 2-6 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 11-12 days. The chicks are fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 17-20 days and becoming fully independent approximately 2-4 weeks later.
Parasitised by Village Indigobird.

Call
A sharp, fast vut-vut-vut-chit-chit and a sweep. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident, sedentary but with some localised movements.

[nan]

842. Red-billed Firefinch Lagonosticta senegala


Male, Kruger National Park

© Peter Connan
Female, uMkhuze, Kumasinga hide

© Peter Connan
Male, uMkhuze, Kumasinga hide

© ExFmem
Male

© Sharifa
Male

© leachy
Male

© leachy
Female

© harrys
Letaba, Kruger National Park

© Pumbaa
Kruger National Park

© Duke
Kruger National Park, Biyamiti

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Finches and Sparrows
Sasol

[nan]

840. African Firefinch (formerly known as Blue-billed Firefinch) Lagonosticta rubricata (Kaapse Vuurvinkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae

African Firefinch.jpg (31.06 KiB) Viewed 826 times

Description
Size 10 cm. The bill appears blackish or bluish in the field, pale pink base to bill. Both sexes have white spots on the flanks.
Adult male has a deep red lores, face, underparts and rump, lightly spotted white on flacks. It is dark grey from crown to nape with black vent and undertail-coverts. The tail is black, edged red.
Adult female is paler, pinkish brown below. Face greyl, ores bright red; throat and breast pale red; rest of underparts tawny, shading to b lack undertail, lightly spotted white on flanks.
Juvenile resembles female but is overall less pink, below more rufous, no red on lores.
Chick: Dark with little whitish down; palate whitish with 5 black spots; black bar across tongue; black crescent on inside of lower jaw; gape white with bluish tubercles at base of each jaw.
Similar species: The distinctive grey (not pink) crown and nape differentiate this species from the very similar Jameson's Firefinch. In the northern race (Zimbabwe), the whole head is washed pinkish; African Firefinch is then distinguished from Jameson's Firefinch by the complete lack of pink on its darker back and wings.

Taxonomy
There are subspecies with different head colouration, L. r. rubricata (South Africa, Swaziland and southern Mozambique) and L. r. haimatocephala (Zimbabwe and Mozambique N of Save River).

Distribution
Occurs in patches across sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia south through southern DRC and Tanzania to southern Africa. Here it is locally common in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands and adjacent Mozambique, with a separate population from the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal to Swaziland and north-eastern South Africa, extending into southern Mozambique.

Habitat
Thickets in thornveld, riverine scrub, forest edges and suburbia.

Diet
It mainly eats seeds supplemented with insects, doing most of its foraging on the ground, sifting through soil in search of food.

Breeding
The nest is built by the male, consisting of a ball-shaped structure with a side entrance, made of long, dry grass blades and with an inner shell of soft grass inflorescences, sometimes lined with feathers. It is typically concealed in dense grass, bracken-brier undergrowth or in a tuft of grass growing out of a fallen branch or tree stump, about 0.5-2.0 m above ground. Egg-laying season is from November-June, peaking from January-April. It lays 2-5 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 11-12 days. The chicks are fed both parents and leave the nest after about 14-19 days, after which they are fed for 10 more days, after which they soon become fully independent.

Call
A fast, clicking trrt-trrt-trrt-trrt, like a fishing reel as the line is played out, and a wink-wink-wink. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

[nan]

840. African Firefinch Lagonosticta rubricata


Female, Kruger National Park


Female

© ExFmem
Male

© BluTuna
Kruger National Park

© BluTuna
Kruger National Park

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
Sasol

[nan]

841. Jameson's Firefinch Lagonosticta rhodopareia (Jamesonse Vuurvinkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae

Lagonosticta rhodopareia.jpg (33.12 KiB) Viewed 945 times

Desricption
10 cm. The crown, nape, back and wing coverts are suffused with pink. Both sexes have white spots on the flanks. This species has a bluish bill.
Male is pink below with a black undertail. Male is separated from African Firefinch by pinkish (not grey-brown) wash to upperparts.
Female is paler with pinkish-buff throat and breast, and less spotting below.
Juvenile resembles female, but is duller and browner.
Similar species: Often confused with Red-billed Firefinch and Brown Firefinch who have reddish (not blue) bills and pinkish (not blackish-grey) feet.

Distribution
In patches from Ethiopia through Kenya and Tanzania to Malawi, Zambia, Angola and southern Africa. Here it is locally common from Zimbabwe and Mozambique to north-eastern South Africa, northern and eastern Botswana and northern Namibia (including the Caprivi Strip).



Habitat
Thickets and grassy tangles in thornveld, especially along watercourses in more arid areas.

Diet
It mainly eats fallen grass seeds, supplemented with insects taken from the ground or hawked aerially.

Breeding
Monogamous. The nest is usually built by both sexes, consisting of an oval-shaped structure with a side entrance, made of dry grass with an inner shell of soft grass inflorescences, lined with feathers. It is typically placed near the ground in a grass tuft, among dead plant material or at the base of a tree or bush. Egg-laying season is year-round peaking in summer, from December-April. It lays 2-7 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 12-15 days. The chicks are brooded and fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 16-19 days, becoming fully independent approximately two weeks later.
Parasitised by Purple lndigobird.

Call
Main call trilling we-we-we-we-we. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident, sedentary and locally nomadic; usually in pairs or small groups.

[nan]

841. Jameson's Firefinch Lagonosticta rhodopareia

© nan
Female

© Sprocky
Grietjie Private Reserve, Limpopo

© Super Mongoose
Male

© lowveldboy



Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/841.pdf
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Finches and Sparrows, page 358
Sasol

[Toko]

844. Blue Waxbill Uraeginthus angolensis (Gewone blousysie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae

Blue Waxbill.jpg (24.37 KiB) Viewed 903 times

Description
Length 13 cm, weight 7-13 g. A small, slender powder-blue bird, smaller than a sparrow. The only blue waxbill in most of its range. The bill is short and conical and pinkish-grey in colour. The crown, back of the head and back are light brown. The rump is light blue and the face and upper breast are light blue.
In the male the underparts, save for the belly centre and undertail coverts are bright sky blue.
In the female, the blue extends only onto the breast and flanks, and the belly is off-white. Extremely rarely, males have scarlet cheek patches.
Juvenile: Blue restricted to face, throat, breast, rump and tail.

Distribution
Mainly occurs in Africa south of the Equator, from southern DRC and Tanzania through Angola and Zambia to southern Africa. Here it is common from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and north-eastern South Africa to northern and eastern Botswana and northern Namibia.

Habitat
It generally prefers mesic and semi-arid savanna, especially with umbrella thorns (Acacia tortilis), also occupying natural growth in cultivated land, Mopane (Colosphermum mopane) and edges of evergreen forest.

Diet
It mainly eats seeds taken directly from grass inflorescences, supplemented with termites and other insects.

Breeding
Monogamous. The nest is built by both sexes, consisting of an oval-shaped structure with a short entrance tunnel on the side, made of grass stems and inflorescences and lined with feathers. It is typically placed in the foliage of a bush or tree, especially Umbrella thorn (Acacia tortilis) and Sickle bush (Dichrostachys cinerea), often near a wasps' nest. There is no evidence that wasps deter nest predators, however it is possible that birds use wasp nests as a way of working out whether there are arboreal ants (Psuedomyrmex) in the tree, as if they are around they would attack the nest of any wasps or birds. It may also use the nest of another bird, such as Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Spectacled Weaver or Black-chested Prinia, although with the latter it still builds a structure on top of the original one. Egg-laying season is year-round, usually peaking in January, roughly two months after a period of heavy rainfall. It lays 2-7 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes in about 11-12 days. The chicks are fed by both parents on a diet of green grass seeds and termites, leaving the nest permanently after about 17-21 days. They are capable of fending for themselves after about a week, becoming fully independent after another week.
Occasionally parasitised by Shaft-tailed Whydah.

Call
Loud contact call, sweep-sweep or tseep-tseep. Song a soft chreu-chreu-chittywoo-weeoo-wee. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident; moves nomadically in winter. In flocks of up to 40 or more in non-breading season.

[Toko]

844. Blue Waxbill Uraeginthus angolensis

© JustN@ture
Kruger National Park

© Amoli
Kruger National Park

© Dewi
Pilanesberg

© Joan
Pilanesberg

© leachy
Nest

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/844.pdf
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
Sasol

[Mel]

845. Violet-eared Waxbill Granatina granatina (Koningblousysie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae

Violet-eared Waxbill.jpg (25.49 KiB) Viewed 907 times

Description
15 cm.
With its violet cheeks, red bill, rump and forehead of blue, and deep chestnut body with black throat, the male is colourful. Red bill and long tail.
The female is paler and less brightly coloured than the male, with its underparts pale brown and underparts cream to fawn, forehead pale blue; also has violet cheeks and ear coverts.
Juvenile colouration resembles the adult female but is duller and has much less obvious cheek patch, the bill is black.

Distribution
Near-endemic to Southern Africa, occurs from southern Angola and Zambia to Namibia, Botswana, western Zimbabwe and northern South Africa, while more scarce in southern Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe.

Habitat
Mainly Acacia savanna with bushes and thickets, espe­cially with tangled Acacia thickets.

Diet
They forage on the ground, feeding mainly on seeds and insects, sometimes nectar. They often forage in the deep shadow of dense bushes or thickets.

Breeding
Monogamous, solitary nester with a life-long pair bond. The nest is built by both sexes, consisting of a thick-walled, vertical oval-shaped structure made of mainly grass stems, the ends of which stick out untidily. The interior is lined with green grass inflorescences and feathers of other birds. It is typically concealed in the foliage of a shrub or tree., placed 1-2 m high. Egg-laying season is almost year round, peaking after summer rainfall when grass inflorescences sprout, from December-May. It lays 2-7 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 12-13 days. The chicks are fed and brooded by both adults, leaving the nest after about 16-18 days.
It is sometimes parasitised by the Shaft-tailed Whydah.

Call
The call of the Violet-eared Waxbill is a repeated soft whisteled tiu-woo-wee and it also has a song not unlike a canary twittering.

Status
Common resident, sedentary or locally nomadic. Usually in pairs or small family groups.

[Mel]

845. Violet-eared Waxbill Granatina granatina


Male, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park


Female

© Dewi
Female & male

© nan
Female

© nan
Male

Links
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Sasol