Family Whydahs and Indigobirds (Viduidae)
Least Concern
Cuckoo-finch (Anomalospiza imberbis)
Taxonomy
French: Anomalospize parasite German: Kuckuckswitwe Spanish: Viuda anómala
Other common names:
Parasitic Weaver
Taxonomy:
Crithagra imberbis
Cabanis
, 1868,“East Africa“= Zanzibar
.
Subspecies and Distribution
A. i. butleri
W. L. Sclater & Mackworth-Praed, 1918 – Gambia (rare), S Mali (inner R Niger Delta), Sierra Leone and Liberia E patchily to Nigeria and Cameroon; South Sudan and NE DRCongo (Uele).
A. i. imberbis
(Cabanis, 1868) – patchily in Ethiopia, E Africa, S DRCongo (Kasai, Katanga) and N & SE Angola S to N & E South Africa.
Descriptive notes
11–12 cm; 18–21g (Kenya), 20–22·5 g (Transvaal). Small, stocky finch with short tail and short, stubby bill with upper mandible laterally compressed... read more
Voice
Male song, from perch in bush or tree, a high, chirping "choop-ee-choo" or "dzi-bee-chew" or a thin... read more
Habitat
Open grassland and savanna, damp meadows with high grasses, grassy riverine floodplains, shrubland... read more
Food and feeding
Grass seeds and other soft seeds, also hard seeds of sedges (Scirpus) and sunflowers (Helianthus). Rarely, insects. Takes... read more
Breeding
Breeds in rains, along with host species: lays in Aug and Nov in Ethiopia (W highlands); in E Africa, Feb–Jun in areas N & E of L... read more
Movements
Not well known. In most of range resident, or a seasonal wanderer moving with rains to regions with... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Widespread, but uncommon and local. Patchy distribution prevents any reasonably accurate population estimates; total of 250 individuals in Kruger... read more
Races intergrade and poorly defined, with no constant distinction in size and plumage, and species sometimes treated as monotypic; also, individual variation in size apparent. Proposed race tibatiensis (described from W Africa) subsumed into butleri, and macmillani (from Ethiopia), makandakunae (W Zambia) and nyasae (Malawi) synonymized with nominate. Two subspecies currently recognized.