Swee Waxbill ( Coccopygia melanotis, family: Estrildidae)

swee waxbill kruger national park birds The Swee Waxbill (Latin name Coccopygia melanotis) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 850 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 1044 also a picture of the Swee Waxbill on page 1057. The Swee Waxbill belongs to the family of birds classified as Estrildidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Swee Waxbill is also known by these other names: Black-faced swee.

In the previous edition of Roberts (ie 6th edition) the Swee Waxbill was called the . The Robert's 7 Latin name for Swee Waxbill has changed from Estrilda melanotis in Robert's 6 to Coccopygia melanotis.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

Near endemic species is one that is confined to a specific geographical region rather than a single country for example. Certain birds in The Kruger National Park are near endemic to Mozambique, and Zimbabwe for example. One such example is the Swee Waxbill and this species depends upon a certain type of habitat for survival. Destroy that habitat and the bird becomes endangered.

In terms of distribution of the Swee Waxbill in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Swee Waxbill : see above distribution map.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Swee Waxbill is an extremely small bird about half the size of a house sparrow. The height of the Swee Waxbill is about 10 cms and its weight is about 8 gms

You will find that the male Swee Waxbill plumage and colours are different to that of the female Swee Waxbill

  • Head is grey.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is black.
  • Throat is white.
  • Back is grey, white.
  • Legs are black.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Swee Waxbill feeds on the ground, and on the wing mainly

Invertebrates

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Swee Waxbill is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Coccopygia melanotis will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Swee Waxbill is to create the nest in branches of a tree or shrub. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 3 to 9

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Swee Waxbill are: woodlands and grasslands and riverine areas

You will normally see the Swee Waxbill in pairs or flocks and not as single birds.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... ubuSukuswane

Afrikaans ...Suidelike Swie

German ... Gelbbauchastrild

Portuguese ... Bico-de-lacre-meridional

French ... Astrild joues noires

Dutch ... Groenrugastrild

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 850

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za