From Opus

Alternative name: Blue-billed Firefinch

Photo by louisdup

Lagonosticta rubricata

[edit] Identification

This is a small, wary but brightly coloured ground-feeding bird. It is also known as the Blue-billed Firefinch because of its bill colour.

[edit] Distribution

Africa south of the Sahara
Western Africa: Senegambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland

Female
Photo by Alan Manson
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, November 2006

[edit] Taxonomy

Subspecies (Fry et al, 2004):

• L. r. rubricata: South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique south of the Save River.
• L. r. landanae: Cabina, lower Congo, western Angola.
• L. r. haematocephala: East Africa; Ethiopia to Uganda and south to Zimbabwe and Mozambique north of the Save River.
• L. r. congica: Cameroon to southern Sudan, western Uganda and Zaire.
• L. r. polionata: Guinea to Nigeria.

[edit] Habitat

Bush and tall grass. Thickets in thornveld, riverine scrub, forest edges and suburbia. In more moist habitats than most firefinches.

[edit] Behaviour

Feeds on small seeds and small insects on the ground.

[edit] References

1. Fry H, Keith S,Woodcook M & Willis I. 2004. Birds of Africa Vol VII: Sparrows to Buntings. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0713665319
2. Avibase

• List of references

[edit] External Links