Black-crowned Waxbill Estrilda nonnula Scientific name definitions

10–10·5 cm; 6·5–8·5 g (nominate). Male nominate race has forehead and crown down to lores and eye black, nape grey; upperparts , including upperwing-coverts, grey with fine black bars (5–7 pairs of bars in 10 mm), rump and uppertail-coverts red, tail and flight-feathers black; face and underparts white, usually with pearl-grey tinge from neck downwards, red patch on flanks, undertail-coverts sometimes with fine barring; iris dark brown, eyering dark grey; bill black, with red band along side of culmen and red triangle at base of lower mandible; legs black. Female is like male, but slightly more brown-tinged on back and wings, with less red on flanks. Juvenile is paler above than adult, lacks barring, rump dull red, flanks pale buff, bill black. Race eisentrauti is slightly greyer on breast and flanks than nominate; elizae is like previous, but larger.

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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.

Grassy secondary growth, grassy forest edges, neglected cultivation, farms and gardens. In W of range found from coast to 500 m, and up to c. 2900 m, but most common at 1000–2500 m; 230–2800 m in E Africa.

Resident.

Small grass seeds (especially Setaria), millet seeds; also flying termites (Isoptera) and possibly ants (Formicidae). Takes seeds from grass-heads and from ground; holds growing grass-heads under foot. Forages generally in small flocks of up to c. 20 individuals, sometimes in much larger aggregations; also in mixed flocks with E. atricapilla and E. kandti where ranges overlap.

Contact call  a thin, high-pitched buzzy "tseee, sszee", often downslurred "tssseeew"; alarm call "srree-srree"; nest call a soft twittering up and down scale. Song types "speet-speet, p'seet-seet-seet", "speet, speet, speet speet-speet-speet", and "sureeeeaseet seet-seet-seet".

Season Sept–Nov in Cameroon, Jul–Nov in NE DRCongo (Ituri), and Mar–Oct (mainly Apr–May) in Uganda. Courting male, with grass stem held in bill, fluffs belly and flank feathers, bends tail towards female, and bobs up and down, occasionally turning head towards female, waving grass from side to side, and gradually coming closer to her; display like that of E. troglodytes. Nest a large ovoid structure, entrance hole with short downward-sloping tunnel, outer fabric loosely made with criss-crossed grass stems and grass-heads, lined with soft plant fibres, usually a "cock's nest" (a thin-walled open cup with or without half-dome) on top, placed 1–8 m above ground in shrub or small tree. Clutch 4–5 eggs; incubation period 12–14 days; hatchling nearly naked, skin pale pink, gape has swollen curved white arc with black margin and black inner surface above, shorter swollen arc with black lining from gape to below, palate pinkish-white with ring of five black spots, tongue with two black spots, lower mouth with black crescent, in appearance much as nestling of E. atricapilla; nestling period 17–21 days. In central Cameroon, six of 28 active nests were parasitized by Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura) (1 Lansverk, A.L., Dogmo, J.-B., Schuetz, J.G. and Balakrishnan, C.N. (2015). Parasitism of the Black-crowned Waxbill (Estrilda nonnula) by the Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura): implications for host-specific adaptation by a generalist brood-parasite. Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 127(4): 733–739. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Locally common in W of range; generally common in E of range; very common to abundant in some places. Record from C Benin in (Bétérou) in Sept 1991 considered probably to have involved an escaped individual.