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Alternative names: Baka Indigobird, Black-faced Firefinch Indigobird.

Vidua larvaticola

[edit] Identification

Small, estrildid-sized finches, 11-12cm.
Breeding male: mainly black with greenish gloss. Remiges dark brown, bill white, legs pale grey.
Female/immature/non-breeding male: Dull sparrow-like plumage with broad pale supercilia and central crown stripe separated by darker eye- and malar-stripes.

[edit] Similar Species

Not safely separable from other indigobird species on sight. Identification dependent on recognition of mimicry of calls of Black-faced Firefinch (e.g. "tu-tu-tu-wheeet").

[edit] Distribution

Africa
Western Africa: Senegambia, south-eastern Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, northern Democratic Republic of Congo
Eastern Africa: Sudan, western Ethiopia

[edit] Taxonomy

Part of the indigobird superspecies complex. Barka Indigobird regarded as monotypic.^[1]

[edit] Habitat

As with host, Black-faced Firefinch, mainly savannah woodland.

[edit] Behaviour

Brood parasite of Black-faced Firefinch Lagonosticta larvata, mimicking song of host. Gape pattern of nestlings exhibit remarkable replication of gape pattern of nestlings of host species.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase
3. Davies, NB, 2000, Cuckoos, Cowbirds and other Cheats. London: Academic Press.
4. Payne, RB, 2005, Nestling mouth markings and colors of old world finches Estrildidae: mimicry and coevolution of nesting finches and their Vidua brood parasites. Michigan: Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan.

• List of references

[edit] External Links