Dusky Indigobird ( Vidua funerea, family: Viduidae)

Birds & Birding in the Kruger National Park South Africa. In Roberts 6 this bird was called Black Widowfinch

dusky indigo kruger national park birds The Dusky Indigobird (Latin name Vidua funerea) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 864 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 1078 also a picture of the Dusky Indigobird on page 1072. The Dusky Indigobird belongs to the family of birds classified as Viduidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Dusky Indigobird is also known by these other names: African Firefinch Indigobird, Nigerian Indigofinch, Brown-backed Firefinch Indigobird, White-footed Indigobird, Black Indigobird, Variable Indigobird.

In the previous edition of Roberts (ie 6th edition) the Dusky Indigobird was called the Black Widowfinch

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 Dusky Indigobird is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Dusky Indigobird in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Dusky Indigobird : 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 Dusky Indigobird is an extremely small bird about half the size of a house sparrow. The height of the Dusky Indigobird is about 12 cms and its weight is about 15 gms

You will find that the male Dusky Indigobird plumage and colours are different to that of the female Dusky Indigobird

  • Head is blue.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is white.
  • Throat is blue.
  • Back is blue.
  • Legs are orange.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Dusky Indigobird feeds on the ground mainly

Invertebrates

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Dusky Indigobird takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Dusky Indigobird is to use the nest of another bird. The surrogate family then raise the chicks. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 1 to 3

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Dusky Indigobird are: woodlands and grasslands

You can see Dusky Indigobird in flocks. The bird will often also be seen singly.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Gewone Blouvinkie

German ... Purpur-Atlaswitwe

Portuguese ... Viva-negra

French ... Combassou noir

Dutch ... Groene Atlasvink

First bird in list | Previous bird viewed | Next KNP bird | Last bird in list

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

Robert's 7th edition number ... 864

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