Green-winged Pytilia - BirdForum Opus

Male (upper) and female (lower)
Photo by rudydbn
Mkhuze, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, May 2005

Pytilia melba

Identification

12–14 cm (4¾-5½ in)
Male

• Red forehead, cheek, chin and throat
• Grey head and lores
• Yellowish-green upperparts

Variation: a yellow variant where the red in the plumage is replaced by yellow has been noticed in several areas, including the Horn of Africa and South Africa.

Distribution

Male, subspecies soudanensis
Photo by Shailesh Patel
Olorgesailie Prehistoric Site, Kenya, July 2006

Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East:
Western Africa: found in Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Zaire
Eastern Africa: South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, eSwatini
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Yemen

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Female, ssp soudanensis
Photo by volker sthamer
Lake Burunge, Tanzania, September 2016

Pytilia melba has nine subspecies:^[1]

• P. m. citerior

• Southern Mauritania south to Guinea-Bissau, east to southern Sudan, western South Sudan, and northwestern Ethiopia

• P. m. jessei

• North-eastern Sudan to Eritrea and north-western Somalia

• P. m. soudanensis

• Southeastern South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, northern and eastern Kenya, and northeastern Tanzania

• P. m. flavicaudata

• Djibouti

• P. m. grotei

• Eastern Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi and Zanzibar

• P. m. belli

• Western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC and western Tanzania

• P. m. percivali

• Central and south-western Kenya to northern and central Tanzania

• P. m. melba

• Congo and DRC to south-western Tanzania, western Malawi and South Africa

• P. m. hygrophila

• Northern Zambia and northern Malawi

Habitat

Woodland and savanna.

Behaviour

Diet

Their main diet consists of seeds and insects, including termites.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Birdforum thread discussing the yellow variant of Green-winged Pytilia
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2015)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Green-winged Pytilia. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Green-winged_Pytilia

External Links

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