African Wildlife & Environment Issue 84 2023

BIRDING

FIREFINCHES Article: John Wesson Distribution maps from SA Bird Atlas Project 2

Spends a large part of the day feeding on the ground. This little bird has a soft "queet-queet" call, which is a familiar African sound. The nest is parasitized by the Village Indigobird. Unlike cuckoos, the young are raised along with the host's chicks.

The firefinches all belong to a single genus of small seed-eating African birds in the family Estrildidae. The genus was named by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1851. The type species was subsequently designated as the African Firefinch. The focus of this article is on four species of Firefinch namely, Red-billed, Jamesons, African and Brown.

Photograph: Albert Froneman

Jamesons Firefinch Lagonosticta rhodopareia The vegetation types with highest reporting rates indicate that this species prefers broadleaved woodlands, where it occupies open grassy areas with thickets. It is often associated with watercourses, particularly in more arid savannas, and this is clearly reflected

Red-billed Firefinch Lagonosticta senegala This species occurs in woodland, savanna, riverine and thicket vegetation, particularly near water, as the preferred habitats. In the Caprivi, the Okavango and along the Limpopo River, it is the most common firefinch. Grassland and higher- altitude areas represent marginal habitat, as do tree-lined rivers in otherwise open areas. It rarely occurs above 2,000 m and is absent from high altitudes in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. Commonly found around human habitation, often with other species such as the Blue Waxbill.

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