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Jackson's Widowbird Euplectes jacksoni Scientific name definitions

Adrian J. F. Craig
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 17, 2013

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

14 cm, breeding male (including tail) 30 cm; male 40–49 g, female 29–42 g. Male breeding is almost entirely black, feathers of crown and nape with squared ends (forming distinctive cape); flight-feathers dark brown edged with buff, tertials black with pale fringes, lesser and median wing-coverts ­orange-buff, latter with black central spots; tail feathers long and curved (mean tail length 21·2 cm); iris dark brown; upper mandible pale steel-blue, darker at base, lower mandible dark with pale bluish tip; legs black. Male non-breeding has forehead, crown, nape and upperparts dark brown with buffy margins, broad buff supercilium; tail dark brown, with pale edges of pointed rectrices (mean tail length 6·1 cm); upperwing brown with indistinct orange-buff epaulet; lores and cheek buff-brown, chin and throat whitish, breast buff with narrow dark central streaks on feathers, belly whitish, flanks with dark streaks, thighs and undertail-coverts buff; iris brown; bill bluish, darker than in breeding plumage; legs brown. Female and subadult male resemble non-breeding male, but bill brown to pinksih-brown above, fleshy pink below; very faint epaulet. Juvenile resembles female and subadult male.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Highlands of W & C Kenya S to N Tanzania.

Habitat

Open highland grassland at 1500–3000 m.

Movement

Resident. One male recaptured 5 years after ringing, on new display ground 12 km from original site.

Diet and Foraging

Diet mainly grass seeds, particularly those of Themeda triandra, also Panicum; also insects, including alate termites (Isoptera), which are hawked in flight. Nestling diet apparently almost entirely regurgitated grass seeds. Forages in mixed flocks, even during breeding season; often with E. progne.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song from perch a series of sibilant notes; during jumping display, a wheezing, sizzling song. Contact and flight call a repeated "tu"; alarm call of male a rapid "cik-cik-cik".

Breeding

Breeds Dec–Jan and Apr–Jun, and recorded also in Aug–Sept and Nov in Kenya; timing in any year dependent on rains. Solitary nester, but nests may be clustered, with more than 20 in a small area. Males display at exploded lek, where they dance on separate circles of flattened grass (sometimes worn bare) surrounding a central tuft of grass, which male trims and shapes, each male owning up to three dancing rings; when dancing, male jumps up to 1 m above ground, with head thrown back and neck feathers ruffled, tail arched forwards to touch back of head, except for downward-hanging outer rectrices; females visit lek and, if one lands on ring, a ground-based display with focus on central tuft follows; male erects crown and nape feathers as aggressive signal to other males. Mating success of males varies markedly, e.g. 22 unsuccessful, six mated once only and one mated with five females during observations in Kenya. After mating, females nest elsewhere, usually within 300 m of male territory; breeding areas traditional, and used in successive years. Nest built entirely by female, a domed ball of woven grass with side entrance, living grass bent over it to form a bower, lined with grass seedheads, placed within 10 cm of ground in tuft of grass c. 50 cm tall. Clutch 2–4 eggs, pale blue, greyish or greenish, densely marked with fine grey and brown flecks, average size of eight eggs 22·5 x 15·4 mm; incubation by female only, period 12–13 days; chicks fed by female only, nestling period 17 days; on leaving nest, young hop through vegetation, roost with female. Male does not visit nest, but alarm calls cause female to leave nest quietly. No data on breeding success, but female deserts readily in early stages of incubation; nests in pastures easily trampled by cattle.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife NT Near Threatened
Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near-threatened. Restricted range species: present in Kenyan Mountains EBA. Locally common within small range. This species' highland grassland habitat is under severe pressure from agriculture, and is largely unprotected. Population in Nairobi National Park, in Kenya, could disappear as grass height is modified by grazing pressure from the large numbers of game animals. Occurs also in Mount Kenya National Park and Masai Mara Game Reserve, in Kenya, and in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, in Tanzania.
Distribution of the Jackson's Widowbird - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Jackson's Widowbird

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Craig, A. J. F. (2020). Jackson's Widowbird (Euplectes jacksoni), 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.jacwid1.01
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