Red-billed Firefinch - BirdForum Opus

Photo by keith mitchell
Gambia, 2007

Lagonosticta senegala

Identification

10cm. The adult male has scarlet plumage and brown wings. The bill is pink, and its eyering is yellow. It can be found with other species such as the Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu.

Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa

Male and Female
Photo by volker sthamer
Addis Ababa. Ethiopia, November, 2009

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Lagonosticta senegala has six subspecies:^[1]

• L. s. senegala

• Cape Verde Islands; Senegal and Mali to Nigeria

• L. s. rhodopsis

• Eastern Mali to Sudan and lowlands of western Eritrea and Ethiopia

• L. s. ruberrima

• Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, north-eastern Zambia, DRC and north-eastern Angola

• L. s. brunneiceps

• Highlands of Ethiopia, Eritrea and south-eastern Sudan

• L. s. somaliensis

• South-eastern Ethiopia and Somalia

• L. s. rendalli

• Southern Angola to southern Tanzania, and central and eastern South Africa

Habitat

Grassland and cultivation.

Behaviour

Diet includes seeds and grain.

Vocalisation

Its song is a rising chick-pea-pea-pea.

Breeding

It builds a nest of grass, domed in shape, usually built in a bush. It lays 3-6 white eggs. The Village Indigobird is a parasite of the nests.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Red-billed Firefinch. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Red-billed_Firefinch

External Links

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