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Red-headed Bluebill Spermophaga ruficapilla 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

15 cm; 21·3-26 g (nominate). Male nominate race has head to breast and flanks red, upperparts glossy black, uppertail-coverts red, upperwing and tail black, lower breast, belly and undertail-coverts black; iris dark brown or dark red, eyering grey in front of and behind eye, white above and below eye (conspicuous and swollen in breeding condition); bill silvery blue to purplish-blue with red tip and cutting edges; legs dark brownish-olive to blackish. Female has head red, nape sometimes with blackish marks, mantle slate-grey, back to rump blackish, uppertail-coverts reddish, tail dark brown or blackish, wing blackish-brown; chin and throat red, duller than male, lower breast to flanks and undertail-coverts black, heavily spotted white; eyering grey. Juvenile is slaty grey above, including head, with reddish uppertail-coverts, underparts sooty, reddish tinge on side of breast, iris dark brown, bill bluish-black with red tip. Race cana male differs from nominate in having upperparts slaty grey, some grey feather bases showing through on head and breast, lower underparts dark grey-brown, red areas paler, female has trace of red on uppertail-coverts, lower underparts dark grey-brown with whitish spots.

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 sometimes considered conspecific with S. haematina; see remarks under that species. Proposed race kilgoris (described from Kilgoris, in SW Kenya) treated as a synonym of nominate. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Spermophaga ruficapilla ruficapilla Scientific name definitions

Spermophaga ruficapilla ruficapilla
S. r. ruficapilla +1

Distribution

SE Central African Republic, NE, E and S DRCongo, S South Sudan, Uganda, W and C Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, W Tanzania and N Angola.
SUBSPECIES

Spermophaga ruficapilla cana Scientific name definitions

Spermophaga ruficapilla cana
S. r. cana

Distribution

Usambara Mts, in NE Tanzania.

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

Forest undergrowth, damp areas in thickets, near streams, clearings and edge, also gallery forest, swamp-forest, coffee plantations; in Uganda, from lowlands to 2100 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Seeds, including those of legumes (of genus Indigofera), morning glories (Ipomoea) and speargrass (Imperata cylindrica); also insects, including small beetles (Coleoptera) and termites (Isoptera). Strips seeds from tall grass by perching on stem and bending fruiting head to ground; de-husks seeds in bill. Breaks apart clumps of earth or termite nest with downward blows of bill; lifts and moves dead leaves. Forages mainly in pairs and family groups; joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Calls "pik", a nasal "tewk", and soft high "seep". Two song types, with separated rambling notes, one a series of long fluting notes ending in trill, or a series of sibilant and rising notes, "si-sisi-su-wii s-sis-swiswiswiswiswiswi"; second type varied, with guttural trills, whistles, rattles, clucks and kissing chirps, fast and then slowing. Voice much as that of S. haematina.

Breeding

Season Feb–May in Angola, and Oct–Mar and May in E DRCongo (Itombwe); in Uganda most breeding records Apr–Jul and Oct–Nov. Courting male displays with feathers of belly, flanks and back fluffed, feathers of head and neck sleeked, he angles tail towards female, holds a leaf or piece of grass in bill and bows to one side towards her, bill pointed downwards, then throws back head until nearly vertical (angle of bill shifting from 45° below horizontal to 70° above), and twists head, leaf and tail towards mate; pair copulates in the open. Nest a large loosely constructed ball with side entrance, made from dry leaves, ferns and coarse grass-tops, lined with fine grass, hidden among leaves or palm fronds. Clutch 2–3 eggs; incubation period 17–18 days; nestling skin pale yellowish-flesh, sparse down on head and back, gape with three small yellow wattles or ball-like swellings, palate yellow with three large black spots, two small black marks near bill tip, tongue with narrow dark bar, and a sublingual mark; nestling period 20 days; fledglings tended by both parents.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Locally common to uncommon. Common in DRCongo, especially in NE (as far S as Itombwe); fairly common in S Sudan, and generally common in Uganda; in Kenya, considered fairly common in W but uncommon in C (Meru); locally common in Angola.
Distribution of the Red-headed Bluebill - Range Map
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Distribution of the Red-headed Bluebill

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Payne, R. B. (2020). Red-headed Bluebill (Spermophaga ruficapilla), 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.rehblu1.01
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