Green-winged Pytilia Pytilia melba Scientific name definitions

12–14 cm; 12·8-18·4 g. Male nominate race has forehead, cheek, chin and throat red, lores and rest of head grey; upperparts and upperwing yellowish-green, rump and uppertail-coverts red; central pair of rectrices red, other tail feathers dark brown with red outer web; yellowish-green band below throat; some white spots on this band, lower down giving way to bars separated by dark grey, the white progressively dominating towards lower central belly and undertail-coverts; iris red, eyering grey; bill red, some­times dusky on culmen; legs pinkish-flesh to yellow-brown or grey. Female resembles male, but head all grey (no red), lacks greenish band below throat, barring less distinct, bill red with dusky on culmen and often on tip of lower mandible. Juvenile is like female, but paler, lacks barring, vent and undertail-coverts buff, bill black, iris dark brown. Race grotei is darker than nominate, upperparts tinged more golden, red of throat extends onto much of central breast, some males with trace of red on scapulars and upperwing-coverts; <em>hygrophila</em> is darker, underparts more heavily barred blackish; <em>belli</em> has chin to throat and centre of breast red, upper breast bright yellow, some males with trace of red on scapulars and upperwing-coverts; percivali is paler than nominate, lightly barred; soudanensis has lores to eye red (not grey), red extending onto throat, face behind eye grey, yellowish breastband, lightly barred below; <em>jessei</em> is like previous, but lores grey, forehead and chin to throat paler orange-red, upperparts paler; citerior has red extending to lores and behind eye, upperparts normally paler than in nominate, breast much more golden-yellow, and dark bars on underparts paler and thus less contrasting (dark in S part of range).

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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.

Small grass seeds, also termites (Isoptera) and pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones). In N South Africa exploits the grasses Panicum maximum, Urochloa mosambicensis, Rhynchelytrum repens, Sporobolus; in Zambia grasses Panicum, Echinochloa colonum, Urochloa, Setaria, also seeds of Amaranthus; visits flowering acacia trees. Rears young on termites. Feeds on ground . Locates termites by digging with bill through the encrusted tunnels on ground and base of trees, and takes termites on the wing. Forages in pairs and in small flocks. Often inconspicuous.

Not globally threatened. Uncommon to locally common. Mostly uncommon in NW of range (W of Nigeria), and uncommon in extreme NE; scarce to uncommon and local in much of E range from Uganda and Kenya S to Tanzania; commoner in S parts of range, e.g. Angola and South Africa, but uncommon in Namibia. Estimated population in S Mozambique (Sul do Save) 200,000 individuals. Densities in mixed Acacia-Dichrostachys thornbush savanna in N South Africa 0·25-1·25 breeding pairs/ha (i.e. 1 pair/0·8-4 ha), or 0·39-0·79 pairs/ha (1 pair/1·3-2·6 ha); densities of 12, 32, 69 and 97 birds/km² in Acacia savannas in Swaziland. Popular cagebird, large numbers of which are captured and exported; mortality during shipment high. During 1992–1993 drought in S, this species declined dramatically in SE Botswana (reported that bird-export companies failed to take their "usually sustainable quotas").