Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Uganda.
Extreme southern Sudan (eastern side of Dongotona Mts, eastern side of Didinga Mts, Kapoeta and Kenyan border), Ethiopia, Somalia, north-eastern Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania (dry central plateau from Serengeti and Masai steppe south to Tabora, Morogoro and Iringa region).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Straw-tailed Whydah (Vidua fischeri) [XC613504]
by Peter Boesman from Kuku, Loitokitok,near kuku mix secondary school, Kenya (call, imitation, song, mimicry\/imitation)
Straw-tailed Whydah (Vidua fischeri) [XC300878]
by Peter Boesman from West of Negele, Ethiopia (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Along with Shaft-tailed Whydah (Vidua regia) sometimes placed together in a separate genus Tetraenura. They have been thought to form a superspecies.