Black-faced Firefinch Lagonosticta larvata Scientific name definitions

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Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

10–11 cm; 8–12·4 g (nominate). Male nominate race has forehead and crown sooty brownish-grey, indistinct reddish collar from nape to breast; upperparts darkish slate-grey, becoming browner when worn, rump and tail deep red, inner webs of outer tail feathers blackish, upperwing dark brown; face and throat black, upper breast wine-red, lower breast dark grey, a few small white spots on side of breast; belly and undertail-coverts black; iris brown to red, eyering pale blue; bill bluish-grey to slate; legs fleshy to slate. Female has top of head and back dark grey brown, cheek and lores dark grey, throat greyish-buff, pink tinge on breast, becoming drabber on flanks and buffier on belly, undertail-coverts buffy grey to slate. Juvenile is like female, but without pink wash, has rump pale red, underparts paler brown and unspotted, bill black, eyering grey, iris brown. Race nigricollis male has forehead and crown mouse-grey, back grey, underparts lavender-grey, small spots on side of breast, female slightly paler brown above and below, undertail-coverts buff; vinacea male has forehead and crown pale grey, back pinkish-brown, underparts pink, female head pale grey, back pinkish-brown, underparts pink, centre of belly and undertail-coverts buff.

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Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

Black-faced Firefinch (Gray)

Black-faced Firefinch (Vinaceous)

Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

E Sudan, E South Sudan and W Ethiopia.

Black-faced Firefinch (Gray)

S Mali E to SW Sudan and W & S South Sudan, NE DRCongo (Uele) and W & N Uganda.

Black-faced Firefinch (Vinaceous)

Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau E to N Guinea and W Mali (to Mandinga Mts).

Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

Grassy areas with trees, Combretum-Terminalia woodland, savanna woodland, bamboo thickets, rocky ridges on shallow soil with thorny plants; also tall grass, Raphia palm thickets, areas along streams and rank growth near water, thicket base of rocky outcrops. Often in more wooded areas than those in which congeners found.

Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

Resident.

Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

Small grass seeds (diameter 1–2 mm); also termites (Isoptera). Feeds on ground, favouring burnt sites. Forages singly and in pairs or small groups, sometimes with other estrildids.

Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

Contact call a shrill "seesee", louder (distance call) when partners separated; in alarm or excitement "pitpitpit", a series of sharp notes rising in pitch at rate of 8–14 per second, often in staccato chatter, "dwit-it-it...". Song consists of phrases of 2–4 plaintive whistles e.g. "beri-beri-beri, wip-chiwoy-chiwee" at 3–5 kHz, either rising in pitch or dropping and then rising, lasting 0·3-0·4 seconds; also a plaintive "whee-hew, whee-hew" and variations, lasting 0·3 seconds, and a slow trill, "weewee­weewee".

Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

Recorded in Jan in Ivory Coast, Jul in Togo, Jul–Oct in N Nigeria, after Jul in NE DRCongo (Uele), Nov in Ethiopia and Jun in Uganda. In courtship, male often on ground, hops around female, with or without feather in bill, sometimes gives soft note or soft song, performs upward head movements (making black throat conspicuous), bobs up and down and bows towards female. Nest a ball of fine grass, lined with soft grass stems, grass-heads and feathers, built in tall grass or within 1 m of ground in small bush or pile of brushwood, or in old nest of weaver (Ploceidae). Clutch 3–4 eggs; incubation period 11–12 days; nestling (races vinacea and nigricollis) has skin pale brownish, down sparse and white, gape has two white papillae at base of upper and lower mandibles, base of papillae blue, a dark violet-blue papilla between them on lower gape, the papillae connected blue-black at base, palate yellow with five black spots (the two mediolateral ones smaller), tongue pale pink with two black spots, lower mouth pale pink with black sublingual crescent; nestling period 17–19 days; fledglings fed by parents for a further 8–14 days. Brood-parasitized by Barka Indigobird (Vidua larvaticola), young of which mimic mouth colours and pattern of host's nestling; dependent fledglings in mixed-species family groups in Nigeria, and song mimicry by the parasite recorded in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Black-faced Firefinch (Reddish)

Not globally threatened. Uncommon to locally fairly common. Common in N guinean woodlands.