Quailfinch Indigobird Vidua nigeriae Scientific name definitions

10–11 cm; 10–14 g. Male breeding is black with dull green gloss (under mid-day sun may appear black, blue or purplish), concealed white flank spot; tail brown, inner three secondaries and their coverts glossy black, other secondaries and primaries and upperwing-coverts pale brown, underwing-coverts light grey (sometimes some coverts black); iris dark brown; bill white; legs light purplish. Distinguished from V. maryae and V. raricola by less glossy plumage; best separated by song. Non-breeding male and female have pale brown central crownstripe streaked black, bordered by dark brown stripe, pale face with whitish supercilium and dark stripe from eye back to lighter brown unstreaked nape, indistinct blackish ear-spot; upperparts brown with blackish shaft streaks (rump unstreaked brown), tail dark brown, wings brown, buffy wingbars formed by tips of upperwing-coverts; chin and throat whitish, breast to undertail-coverts unstreaked whitish-grey, side of breast and flanks buffy grey, underwing-coverts grey; bill grey or grey-brown, culmen darker. Female and non-breeding male distinguished from V. chalybeata by pale purplish (not orange) legs; indistinguishable from other indigobird species in range. Juvenile has less distinct pattern than that of adult female, brownish above, faint buffy superciliary stripe, upperparts with indistinct darker grey streaks (rump unstreaked), breast buffy, belly and undertail-coverts white, iris dark brown, bill black, legs grey; mouth similar to that of host, African Quailfinch (Ortygospiza atricollis), gape with two distinct papillae on each side (one above, one below), papillae dark blue at base and light grey in front and joined by magenta base, dorsal papilla extending forwards to base of light grey anterior part of ventral papilla, palate pink to lilac with three black spots in front (anterior spot chevron-shaped, open posteriorly) and two smaller black spots behind (the five spots forming a ring), tongue pink with two small black spots, gullet pink, floor of mouth pink with black sublingual chevron; gape structures and colours and palatal colours regress with independence.

Gambia (old records), S Mali (Bouche de Baoulé, Kara), Ghana (Sung, R Yombaba), NC & E Nigeria, NC Cameroon, and S South Sudan (Yei).

Open grassy areas with scattered bushes or trees, open ground, grassy floodplains, rice fields, fish farms and cultivation. In N Nigeria, common around agricultural areas where old dams (built during tin-mining in first half of 20th century) now used for irrigating dry-season fields of peas, beans, tomatoes and peppers and to supply fish ponds.

Presumed resident.

Small grass seeds, taken from surface of ground. Breeding male feeds in his breeding territory; family group of hosts and young feed together in cultivated lands. Occurs in small flocks of males, females and juveniles at end of breeding season.

Song churring and scratchy, mixed with imitations of songs and calls of African Quailfinch. Reproduces with remarkable fidelity songs of quailfinch with bamboo wind-clapper quality, staccato "klik klak klooik" and soft, burbling "gru grie gitty" sexual song, also mimics African Quailfinch contact phrases that descend in pitch, harsh "klek" contact call, "tink" flight call, and begging call of fledglings ("sisi..."). Each male has c. 20 distinct song themes, a third of which are mimetic. Non-mimetic songs include slow and fast chatters, "cha-cha-cha-cha..." and "chachachachacha...", two complex themes used in calling approaching female and in hover display, and two others in aggressive chases with other males. Males within a few kilometres of each other match all their song themes; males farther apart have different song details.

In N Nigeria, males in breeding plumage, song and courtship and mating in Jul and Sept–Nov, females with egg in oviduct Oct–Nov and fledged young mid-Oct, all indicative of breeding in Sept–Nov; in Cameroon, males in breeding plumage, song and courtship and mating recorded in Sept–Oct and Jan. Territorial male defends song perch as a mating site, sings repeatedly from tree or bush in territory for several weeks, attracting females; courts visiting female by hovering over her as she perches on call-site, mates with several visiting females; after each courtship display, successful or not, he flies to seeded grasses a few metres from call-site and gives mimetic songs to call female, which then forages with him on ground. Brood-parasitic, lays in nests of African Quailfinch, eggs white, unmarked, 15·6 x 12·3 mm (egg in oviduct of female caught at call-site of singing male in Nigeria); no information on incubation and nestling periods, nestling undescribed; family parties include foraging adult pair and young of African Quailfinch and one or two young of parasite.

Not globally threatened. Distribution extremely local; species perhaps widely overlooked. Known from very few sites, widely scattered; these include type locality on Gongola-Benue floodplains, where its host species African Quailfinch is locally common. Apparently no recent records from Gambia. African Quailfinch occurs over much wider range, including E & S Africa, where present species not known to be present.