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Bar-breasted Firefinch Lagonosticta rufopicta Scientific name definitions

Robert B. Payne
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 19, 2013

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

9–10 cm; 8·2-11·2 g (nominate). Nominate race has crown to back and upperwing-coverts rather dark, dull earth-brown, rump and uppertail-coverts red, tail black with variable amounts of red near base, flight-feathers brown; forehead and face to throat and breast vina­ceous red, breast with fine white double spots or bars, belly pinkish to grey, undertail-coverts buff to grey; iris olive-brown, eyering pinkish; bill purplish-red, upper and lower ridges black; legs brownish-grey. Sexes alike. Juvenile has upperparts brown, rump and uppertail-coverts red, face grey, breast grey with faint pink wash, belly and undertail-coverts pale grey, iris and eyering grey, bill blackish, bill base changing to purplish-pink at independence. Race lateritia has crown and back slightly paler and greyer than nominate, face and breast paler pink.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

In the past was sometimes considered conspecific with L. nitidula. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Lagonosticta rufopicta rufopicta Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Senegal, Gambia, SW Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone E to Nigeria, Cameroon, S Chad and Central African Republic.
SUBSPECIES

Lagonosticta rufopicta lateritia Scientific name definitions

Distribution

South Sudan, NE DRCongo, W Ethiopia, Uganda and SW Kenya.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Grassland and acacia (Acacia) savanna, wet marshes, often near villages and along dirt roads.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Small grass seeds (diameter 1–2 mm). Feeds on ground. Forages in pairs and in small groups; often associates with other estrildids.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Contact call 1–2 short rising and falling notes, "kewp" or "kewp-kewp"; alarm call a sharp abrupt "tik" or "tik-tik", sometimes in a chatter of 4 notes per 3 seconds. Song a jingling "tsi-tsi-trrrrrwa, tsi-tsi-tirrrrrrrwa" or "chichi-widdler, chichi-widdler", 9–11 short notes per second, lasting up to 4 seconds, pitch fluctuating widely within 4–8 kHz, high notes metallic and low notes nasal in tone, most notes descending in pitch and often with an overtone, the song often with alarm notes and ending in low descending whistle; a second song theme is shorter and without terminal whistle.

Breeding

Season in second half of rains and into early dry season: May–Sept in S Ghana, Jul–Nov in Nigeria and May in Uganda. Courting male holds a feather in bill, jerks body up and down on perch, stretching and bending legs, directing display to female, and sings during and between bouts; all behaviour like that of L. senegala. Nest a covered mass with side entrance, made from coarse grass, lined with soft grass-heads and feathers, built at base of bush or 1–2 m above ground in creepers on wall of building, in tangle of grass, sometimes in old nest of Ploceus weaver or Spermestes cucullata. Clutch 3–6 eggs; incubation period 13–14 days; nestling skin blackish with grey down, white swollen gape-flange without distinct papillae, oral surface black on upper and lower flange, palate pale pink with three black spots, tongue unmarked pink with black bar, inner mouth pink, floor of mouth pink with black chevron; nestling period 17–19 days; young sing at 3 months of age. Nests parasitized by Wilson's Indigobird (Vidua wilsoni), young of which mimic mouth colours and pattern of host's nestling. Estimated annual adult survival in Nigeria 0·75.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Fairly common to locally common.
Distribution of the Bar-breasted Firefinch - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Bar-breasted Firefinch

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Payne, R. B. (2020). Bar-breasted Firefinch (Lagonosticta rufopicta), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.babfir1.01
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