Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea)

Other Names (World)
Dusky Indigobird, Variable Indigobird, African Firefinch Indigobird, African Firefinch Widowfinch, Brown-backed Firefinch Indigobird, Brown-backed Firefinch Widowfinch, Black Indigobird

Family
Viduidae (Whydahs And Indigobirds)

Size
10 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Tarragon, 1847)

Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland and montane moist forest, lowland dry grassland, arable land, plantations.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Guinea-bissau, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (24)...)

Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea) [XC357310]
by Alan Collett from Graaff-Reinet, Western District, Eastern Cape, South Africa (call)

Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea) [XC41893]
by Lynette Rudman from S07.79734 E35.80417, ca. 10km ESE of Iringa, Iringa Region, Tanzania (imitation, song, song & mimicry)

Subspecies
Vidua funerea (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea) and Quailfinch Indigobird (Vidua nigeriae) following Payne and Payne (1994), and Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea) and Cameroon Indigobird (Vidua camerunensis) following Payne (2004).

Thought to form a superspecies with Purple Indigobird (Vidua purpurascens). Has been treated as conspecific with Purple Indigobird (Vidua purpurascens). Formerly considered conspecific with Village Indigobird (Vidua chalybeata). Has been treated as conspecific with Wilson's Indigobird (Vidua wilsoni), Quailfinch Indigobird (Vidua nigeriae), Cameroon Indigobird (Vidua camerunensis) and Green Indigobird (Vidua codringtoni).

Interbreeds with Village Indigobird (Vidua chalybeata) in E DRCongo and with Purple Indigobird (Vidua purpurascens) in SE DRCongo. Subspecies nigerrima has sometimes been treated as a full species.

The following 2 subspecies are recognised:

funerea (Tarragon, 1847) - Northern and eastern South Africa, Swaziland and extreme southern Mozambique (south of R Limpopo).
nigerrima (Sharpe, 1871) - Western Kenya, Tanzania, southern and south-eastern DRCongo, northern Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique (except extreme south) and eastern Zimbabwe.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Dusky Indigobird (Vidua funerea) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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