Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Somalia.
Unknown to Guinea-bissau.
Population
Estimated population is 47,000 - 1,200,000 (2010).
Status LC
Habitat degradation from increased river siltation, reduced river flows and pesticide contamination is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Habits
Secretive. Singly or in pairs.
Food
Invertebrates, spiders, millipedes, crustaceans, small snails, frogs, small fish, snakes. Occasionally vegetation.
African Finfoot (Podica senegalensis) [XC454608]
by Tim Cockcroft from Wassadou, Tambacounda, Senegal (call)
African Finfoot (Podica senegalensis) [XC720637]
by Lynette Rudman from Shaw Park, Bathurst District, Eastern Cape, South Africa (call)
Nest
A flat, loose structure of reeds and twigs, located on an overhanging tree limb or on a horizontal branch, placed 1 - 4 m high over water either on a mass of flood debris or fallen branches.
Subspecies
Suggested subdivision of family into two subfamilies places present species in Podicinae alongside Masked Finfoot (Heliopais personatus). Subspecies camerunensis may apparently intermix with senegalensis in southern Cameroon. Birds from Loango coast (extreme north-western Angola) formerly awarded separate subspecies albipectus, being intermediate in size and range, but not reliably separable.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
senegalensis (Vieillot, 1817) - Senegal eastern mainly through forested belt of western Africa to eastern Zaire, Uganda, north-western Tanzania and Ethiopia.
somereni Chapin, 1954 - Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet