Africa Wild

852. Quailfinch Ortygospiza atricollis (Gewone Kwartelvinkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae


Description
Length about 10 cm. Size very small; tail short. Adults are sexually dimorphic in plumage, and they vary in bill and plumage colour and the intensity of plumage markings. Above grey; eyepatch and chin white. White barring on chest and flanks. Iris orange-brown. Legs and feet light brown.
Male: Greyish-brown upperparts. Breast and flanks barred black and white. Forehead, malar stripe and throat black. Red bill when breeding. Pinkish legs. Long hind claw. Belly light rufous, shading to white undertail.
Females lack the facial mask and are duller. Forehead, malar stripe and throat grey. Bill dusky brown above, pink or red below.
Juveniles similar to the female but below light brown, without barring and a darker bill.
Chick: Pinkish orange with long white dorsal plumes; palate pale pink or yellowish with 6 black spots; tongue pale pink with 2 black spots and black tip; black crescent on inside of lower jaw; pale pink fleshy swelling at gape; 3 iridescent opalescent tubercles on black skin at base of each side of upper jaw, and 1 at base of lower jaw; alternating black and white tubercles along edges of upper and lower jaws.
Similar species: The absence of red or orange on the rump distinguishes it from Locustfinch and Orange-breasted Waxbill.

Taxonomy
We formerly recognized three species of Quailfinch: Black-faced Quailfinch Ortygospiza atricollis, Black-chinned Quailfinch Ortygospiza gabonensis, and African Quailfinch Ortygospiza fuscocrissa. These are all now lumped under a single species, but the forms are retained as identifiable subspecies groups.

O. a. muelleri: s Kenya to Angola, Namibia and s Botswana (Northern Cape?) Upperparts are nearly uniform with dark, indistinct streaks.
O. a. pallida: n Botswana
O. a. digressa: e Zimbabwe, s Mozambique and South Africa. Mostly darker than O. a. muelleri.

Distribution
Occurs in patches across sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa, it is locally common in South Africa, excluding most of the Northern and Western Cape, southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern and south-eastern Botswana and northern Namibia (including the Caprivi Strip).



Habitat
It generally favours short, open grassland especially near water, as well as agricultural fields and woodland with patches of bare ground, open grassy hillsides, dry Kalahari sandplains.

Movements and migrations
Nomadic in the non-breeding season, moving into regions which have recently experienced rainfall and leaving once the ground dries up.

Diet
It mainly eats grass seeds taken from the ground, supplemented with small arthropods, especially termites and spiders.

Breeding
Breeding season is November to April in Eeastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (mainly January to March in Eastern Cape, November to December in KwaZulu-Natal), October to February in Orange Free State, all months except October in Gauteng (80% of nests January-March), December to May (mainly January-April) in Zimbabwe.
The nest is built by both sexes, consisting of a ball-shaped structure of grass blades, lined with seeding grass inflorescences and feathers. It is typically placed within or on top of a grass tuft, with the entrance often facing a small patch of bare soil. The clutch consists of 3-6 white eggs which are incubated for about 15 days.
The chicks are brooded and fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 18-19 days and are able to fend for themselves about 26 days later.

Call
Irregular tink, tink-tink, tirrilink or tee tee tink-tink, somewhat bell-like flight and take-off call; song rapid rattling rambling klik klak kloik klik kluk klek.

Status
Common resident; nomadic after breeding.

852. Quailfinch Ortygospiza atricollis


Male, Pilanesberg

Links:
Species Text Sabap1
Sabap2
Integrative systematics at the species level: plumage, songs and molecular phylogeny of quailfinches Ortygospiza

857. Bronze Mannikin Spermestes cucullatus (Gewone Fret)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae


Description
Length 9 cm. This tiny, black-headed bird is easily identified by its brown, black and white plumage. The bronze-green shoulder is not easy to see unless the bird is in sunlight but the barred brown flanks contrast clearly with the white breast. It has bronzy-green wing-spots on its upperparts, a black-and-white bill and barred flanks. Hind neck warm brown and rump barred. Sexes alike.
Juvenile is completly brown (plain brown above with buff head and underparts) with all-dark bill and a small yellow gape.
Similar species: Smaller and more brownish than Magpie Mannikin, with a shorter bill and smaller dark patches on sides of the breast. Adult differs from Red-backed Mannikin in earth-brown upperparts grading to blackish over the head, face, throat and upper breast, all blackish areas washed with bottle-green or bronze, some bottle-green feathers on the mantle, the bill with dark upper mandible. Has less black on the head than does Red-backed Mannikin.
Juvenile is uniformly brown, unlike juvenile Red-backed Mannikin, which has a reddish brown back and paler underparts.

Distribution
Occurs across much of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia south to southern Africa. Here it is very common in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and eastern South Africa (the Limpopo valley and all the way down the east coast to Port Elizabeth), while more scarce in northern and south-eastern Botswana and the Caprivi Strip (Namibia).



Habitat
Grassy patches in woodland; common in suburban gardens. It generally prefers grassy habitats with a few scattered bushes and trees, such as edges of thickets or evergreen forest, savanna, suburban gardens and the border between natural vegetation and cultivated land.

Diet
Mainly seeds, also insects, plant material and nectar.

Breeding
Monogamous. The male gathers material used by the female to build the nest, which consists of an untidy ball-shaped structure, usually made of green grass inflorescences but sometimes incorporating pine needles and wild Asparagus stems. It is typically placed in a bush, tree or man-made structure, such as a post or beam of a building. Egg-laying season is from August-May, peaking from November-April. It lays 2-8 white eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 12-16 days. The chicks are fed by both parents on a diet of mainly seeds, leaving the nest after about 15-21 days and becoming fully independent roughly 4 weeks later.
Occasionally parasitized by Pin-tailed Whydah.

Call
A wheezy chick-ckick-chicka. Some tchrie or chie notes. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident. Generally sedentary and usually in small flocks.

857. Bronze Mannikin Spermestes cucullatus (Gewone Fret)





© Dewi

© Duke
iSimangaliso, KwaZulu-Natal

© Flutterby
Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Newman's birds of Southern Africa
Sasol

858. Red-backed Mannikin Spermestes nigriceps (Rooirugfret)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Estrildidae


Description
Chestnut back with black head & chest. White belly with black markings on flanks. Black tail. Bill blue-grey, eyes brown and legs and feet dark grey.
Immature is duller.
Similar species: The chestnut back, black-and-white spangles on the wings and flanks, and pale grey bill distinguish this species from Bronze Mannikin and Magpie Mannikin. Juvenile differs from juvenile Bronze Mannikin by its chestnut-tinged back and paler underparts.

Distribution
Occurs in patches from southern Somalia through Kenya, Tanzania, eastern Zambia and Malawi to southern Africa. Here it is locally common in Mozambique, northern and eastern Zimbabwe, Swaziland and eastern South Africa.

Habitat
Riparian forest, dense thickets, edges of coastal and lowland forest, well developed woodland and sometimes borders between pine (Pinus) plantations and other vegetation.

Diet
It mainly eats grass seeds supplemented with arthropods and nectar, doing most of its foraging on the ground and on grass inflorescences, often in along with other seed eating birds.

Breeding
The nest is an oval ball with a side entrance, usually made of grass but occasionally it uses old-man's-beard lichen (Usnea) or wild asparagus (Asparagus) instead. The interior is lined with soft seeding grasses and feathers and it is typically placed in a tree, bush or patch of reeds. Egg-laying season is from October-May, peaking from about March-May. It lays 2-7 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 12-13 days.The chicks are fed by both parents on a diet of mainly arthropods, leaving the nest after about 17 days.

Call
A thin, soft seeet-seeet, uttered when flushed from grass.

Status
Common resident. Gregarious.

858. Red-backed Mannikin Spermestes nigriceps (Rooirugfret)



Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
Newman's birds of Southern Africa
Sasol

The indigobirds and whydahs, are a family, Viduidae, of small passerines native to Sub-Saharan Africa, occuring in open country, from grassland to open woodland. The Cuckoo-finch (Anomalospiza imberbis), also known as the Parasitic Weaver or Cuckoo Weaver, is now also placed in the family Viduidae with the indigobirds and whydahs. The family comprises 2 genera, 20 species, 28 taxa.
These are finch-like species with short, stubby bill, breeding males of most species with extensive black in plumage, some also with greatly elongated central tail feathers, females and non-breeding males mostly brownish and streaked.
The birds named "whydahs" have long or very long tails in the breeding male.
All are brood parasites, which lay their eggs in the nests of estrildid finch species; most indigobirds use fire-finches as hosts, whereas the paradise whydahs chose pytilias.
Unlike the cuckoo, the indigobirds and whydahs do not destroy the host's eggs. Typically, they lay 2–4 eggs in with those already present. The eggs of both the host and the victim are white, although the indigobird's are slightly larger.
Many of the indigo-plumaged species named "indigobirds" are very similar in appearance, with the males difficult to separate in the field, and the young and females near impossible. The best guide is often the estrildid finch with which they are associating, since each indigobird parasitises a different host species. For example, the Village Indigobird is usually found with Red-billed Fire-finches.
Indigobirds and whydahs imitate their host's song, which the males learn in the nest. Although females do not sing, they also learn to recognise the song, and choose males with the same song, thus perpetuating the link between each species of indigobird and firefinch.
The nestling indigobirds mimic the unique gape pattern of the fledglings of the host species.
The matching with the host is the driving force behind speciation in this family, but the close genetic and morphological similarities among species suggest that they are of recent origin.

Family Viduidae (Indigobirds, Whydahs)
Vidua chalybeata Village Indigobird 867
Vidua purpurascens Purple Indigobird 865
Vidua funerea Dusky Indigobird 864
Vidua codringtoni Zambezi Indigobird (Twinspot Indigobird)
Vidua macroura Pin-tailed Whydah 860
Vidua regia Shaft-tailed Whydah 861
Vidua paradisaea Long-tailed Paradise Whydah 862
Vidua obtusa Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah 863
Anomalospiza imberbis Cuckoo-finch 820

867. Village Indigobird Vidua chalybeata (Staalblouvinkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Viduidae


Description
Size 11 cm. Breeding male is jet-black; over a most of its range the red bill, legs and feet differentiate both male and female from other Indigobirds. West of Victoria Falls the bill is white. The white-billed form does not co-occur with white-billed Dusky Indigobird.
Female and non-breeding male resemble other indigobird with brown plumage, except for their dull red bills, and legs. The female has a whitish supercilium and a yellowish bill, streaked brown upperparts; buff underparts.
Juvenile resembles female but plainer and without a supercilium, and its bill is grey, the legs are pink.
Helpful pointers with the Village Indigobird identification is association with its host species, the Red-billed Firefinch, and its presence near human habitation.

Distribution
Occurs in a horizontal band from Senegal to Ethiopia, extending south through Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi to southern Africa. Here it is locally common in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, northern and south-eastern Botswana, northern Namibia and north-eastern and northern South Africa.
In southern Africa it occurs in the north and east, from the northern Cape Province and the KwaZulu-Natal coast, through Swaziland and the Transvaal to
Zimbabwe, eastern and northern Botswana, and northern Namibia. It is recorded from a small area in the eastern Cape Province where its host, the Red-billed Firefinch, also has an isolated, but much larger distribution.



Taxonomy: Six subspecies:
V. c. chalybeata from Senegal to Mali, breeding male with white bill and feet light orange to bright reddish orange
V. c. neumanni from eastern Mali and Burkino Faso to southern Sudan and Eritrea;
V. c. ultramarina from Ethiopia
V. c. centralis from inland Kenya and Tanzania to southern Zaire and north-eastern Zambia
V. c. okavangoensis north-western Botswana, Caprivi (north-eastern Namibia), Angola and western Zambia
V. c. amauropteryx coastal eastern Africa (southern Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania) and inland central and southern Africa (southern Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, eastern South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique), breeding male with bill and feet orange to red

Habitat
Woodland, tall grassveld, and old cultivated lands.

Diet
It mainly eats grass seeds, doing most of its foraging on the ground, uncovering food in the soil.

Breeding
Polygynous, territorial brood parasite, using a system whereby each male owns a territory centered on a perch used for calling. Males chase any male intruders out of their territory, of both the same species as well as other indigobirds and whydahs. If a female enters a males territory he escorts her to his call site while chattering loudly, sometimes giving a calling display before attempting to mate. Typically in any given area there is one male who mates with the majority of females, usually because he sings more than the other males.
Its most common host is the Red-billed Firefinch (842.) as well as other firefinch species, such as the Brown Firefinch.
Egg-laying season is from December-June, peaking from March-April.
The female often finds firefinch nests by listening out for their calls, or following a bird carrying nest lining. It enters the nest regardless of whether it is occupied, often removing or eating any existing eggs before laying one of its own, much to the indignation of the firefinch if present, who may try to scare off the indigobird unsuccessfully. It lays sets of 1-4 eggs per day, usually laying a total of 22-26 eggs in a breeding season. The eggs of both the host and the firefinch are white, although the indigobird's are slightly larger. The egg usually hatches after about 11-12 days of incubation. The nestling indigobirds mimic the unique gape pattern of the fledglings of the host species. The chick usually leaves the nest after about 17-18 days, after which it remains in the care of its host parents for 10-14 days before joining a flock of indigobirds.

Call
A canary-like song which includes clear, shistled wheeet-sheeetoo notes, and mimicked notes of Red-billed Firefinch. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

867. Village Indigobird Vidua chalybeata

© nan
Kruger National Park

© Pumbaa

© Pumbaa

© Pumbaa
Kruger National Park

Links:
Species Text Sabap1
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Retaining a Sense of Identity, in: Rael Loon, Hélène Loon. Sasol Birds: The Inside Story
indigobirds.com (Boston University)