Orange-breasted Waxbill ( Sporaeginthus subflavus, family: Estrildidae)

orange breasted waxbill kruger national park birds The Orange-breasted Waxbill (Latin name Sporaeginthus subflavus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 854 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 1039 also a picture of the Orange-breasted Waxbill on page 1057. The Orange-breasted Waxbill belongs to the family of birds classified as Estrildidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Orange-breasted Waxbill is also known by these other names: Zebra Waxbill, Orange Waxbill, Golden-breast Waxbill, Golden-breasted Waxbill.

In the previous edition of Roberts (ie 6th edition) the Orange-breasted Waxbill was called the

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

The Orange-breasted Waxbill is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Orange-breasted Waxbill in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Orange-breasted 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 Orange-breasted Waxbill is an extremely small bird about half the size of a house sparrow. The height of the Orange-breasted Waxbill is about 10 cms and its weight is about 7 gms

You will find that the male Orange-breasted Waxbill plumage and colours are different to that of the female Orange-breasted Waxbill

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

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Orange-breasted Waxbill feeds on the ground and in foliage mainly

Invertebrates

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Orange-breasted Waxbill is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Sporaeginthus subflavus will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Orange-breasted Waxbill is to lay eggs which are pink in colour and number between 3 to 7

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Orange-breasted Waxbill are: grasslands . The Orange-breasted Waxbill is also at home in wetland and bushveld areas.

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

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Rooiassie

German ... Goldbrstchen

Portuguese ... Bico-de-lacre-de-peito-laranja

French ... Bengali zbr

Dutch ... Goudbuikje

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

Robert's 7th edition number ... 854

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