#firefinch

photograph by Mark Searle

August 26, 2024 - Black-bellied Firefinch (Lagonosticta rara) Found across central Africa, these estrildid finches live in savannas, grasslands, shrublands, and overgrown cultivation. Foraging on the ground in pairs and small flocks, often with related species, they eat grass seeds as well as small ants and termites. They build loose ball-shaped nests from grass, leaves, stems, and rootlets in grass clumps, shrubs, low trees, or building thatch. Females lay clutches of three or four eggs.

the african firefinch is a small, brightly colored finch found throughout almost the entire continent of africa. both sexes are similar, but females have duller coloration and more brown on the body. male firefinches build the nest, then the parents work together to incubate & rear the young. the african firefinch mainly feeds on seeds foraged on the ground, but they supplement their diet with insects. x

red-billed firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) in Zakouma, Chad

photograph by Nigel Voaden | Wikimedia CC

photograph by Ron Verdonk