Yellow-bellied Waxbill Coccopygia quartinia Scientific name definitions

9–10 cm; 6–8 g (kilimen­sis). Male nominate race has head to nape, throat and breast grey, back and upperwing light olive-green, rump and uppertail-coverts bright red, tail black; belly light yellow, flanks grey, undertail-coverts yellow; iris dark crimson to dark brown; bill black above, red below; legs black. Female is like male, but slightly less yellow. Juvenile resembles female, but greyer, with rump reddish-brown, bill black. Race <em>kilimensis</em> is similar to nominate, but slightly darker and less green above, darker below, undertail-coverts orange-yellow; <em>stuartirwini</em> is like previous, but head and nape paler, more bluish-grey.

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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.

Shrubby grass, undergrowth, bracken briar or dense grass, scrub on rocky hills, small forest clearings, edge of montane forest. Uplands, in Ethiopia at 900–2700 m; 900–3000 m in Kenya, 900–2500 m (mostly above 1500 m) in Malawi, and 1200–2200 m (but recorded down to 400 m in early Sept) in Zimbabwe; in Zambia, mostly 1620–1800 m in Northern Province, and as low as 1200 m on Muchinga escarpment.

No information; possibly some elevational movement in Zimbabwe.

Small grass seeds . Active. Clings to grass stems and flowerheads; forages also on ground . Takes small insects in flight. Occurs in flocks in non-breeding season.

Call  a soft whistled "see-see" or "swee-swee", also high-pitched sharp "tsweee"; song a soft penetrating "teeeeeeeit" or "tuuuuuueeet" or "spui-sit-tu-si-li". Observed variations appear to be related to state of excitement of individual.

Season Mar, Jun and Aug–Oct in Ethiopia and Apr, Jul–Aug and Oct in Uganda; in Kenya varies with regional rainfall, in Aug on Mau Narok; Jan in Zambia, Feb–May in Malawi and Dec–Apr in Zimbabwe. Male hops near female, body upright, bill pointed downward, feathers of flanks and lower belly fluffed and other feathers sleeked, tail bent towards female, he mandibulates and gives soft, rapid song; copulation not seen with this behaviour, which perhaps a greeting display. Nest a flimsy, elongate covered structure of coarse grass, with side entrance, lined with fine grass-heads and white plant down, placed 1–2-5 m above ground in dense foliage in shrub or small tree, often in mistletoe (Loranthaceae) clump, sometimes near wasp (Hymenoptera) nest. Clutch 3–6 eggs; incubation 13–14 days; nestling skin dark pink and blackish, long grey down dense on head, back and thighs, gape black with bluish-white swollen arc above, proximal end curved ventrally to end in white ball, lower gape with two balls of white to bluish-white, palate unmarked creamy white distally and bright reddish-pink proximally, tongue, lower mouth and edge of mandible unmarked grey; nestling period 21–22 days. Longest known survival of marked birds 3 years. Nest occasionally parasitized by Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura).

Not globally threatened. Locally common in most of range; abundant in W & SE highlands of Ethiopia.