Fawn-breasted Waxbill - BirdForum Opus

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Subspecies ochrogaster (Abyssinian Waxbill)
Photo © by volker sthamer
Hawassa, Ethiopia

Estrilda paludicola

Includes Abyssinian Waxbill (Estrilda ochrogaster)

Identification

Length 11-12 cm
A plain waxbill with an orange bill.

Distribution

Africa: Southern Gabon, southern Congo, Angola, DRC, Zambia, western Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, western Kenya, southern[Sudan]], South Sudan, Ethiopia.

Subspecies

Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:

• E. p. ochrogaster

• Western Ethiopia and eastern South Sudan

• E. p. paludicola

• Central African Republic, southern Sudan, western South Sudan, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern and central Uganda, and western Kenya

• E. p. roseicrissa

• Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, southeastern Uganda and north-western Tanzania

• E. p. marwitzi

• South-western Tanzania

• E. p. ruthae

• South-eastern Gabon, Congo to western Democratic Republic of the Congo

• E. p. benguellensis

• Angola to southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northern Zambia

Subspecies ochrogaster was considered a separate species (Abyssinian Waxbill) in the past (e.g., by Sibley & Monroe3.

Habitat

Grassy savanna, highland grassland and heath, and rank vegetation, often near water.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
3. Sibley, CG and BL Monroe. 1996. Birds of the World, on diskette, Windows version 2.0. Charles G. Sibley, Santa Rosa, CA, USA.
4. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Fawn-breasted Waxbill. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 February 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Fawn-breasted_Waxbill

External Links

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