Pin-tailed Whydah
Vidua macroura
Bush and suburbia. Small pied bird with red beak and very long tail.
LC
Not Endemic
Description
Common resident. Breeding male distinctive; the red bill is retained in non-breeding plumage. Female has pinkish-brown bill, but told from similar female [Shaft-tailed Whydah] by bolder head stripes. Courting male hovers over the females, describing a circle in the vertical plane, while calling a continuous wispy ‘peetzy-peetzy-peetzy…’. In normal flight calls ‘tseet-tseet-tseet’. Male is pugnacious, chasing other small birds and dominating at food sources. Usually in parties of one male and several females, which frequent a wide variety of habitats including suburbia. Parasitises [Common Waxbill].
Quick Facts
Size
11-12 cm breeding 34 cm - S
Names
A: Koningrooibekkie
Z: uHlekwane
G: Dominikanerwitwe
Bird Family
Small, ground-feeding, seed-eating finches that are brood parasites, laying their eggs in waxbill, firefinch, twinspot and pytilia nests. Male whydahs in breeding plumage have very long tails, different in all species, but when not breeding they resemble the confusingly similar females. At times males may be seen in transient plumage with traces of the breeding colours visible. Immatures are very plainly coloured and are probably indistinguishable.
Distribution
Gallery
Behaviour
Breeding
Habitat
Usually in parties of one male and several females, which frequent a wide variety of habitats including suburbia.
