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Grey Waxbill | Glaucestrilda perreini
Zwartstaartastrild | Estrilda Colinegra
The Grey Waxbill is a subdued grey waxbill of forest edges and dense undergrowth in the east of the region, recognised by the contrast between its crimson rump and black tail. It lives in pairs or small family parties and usually stays low and hidden in the vegetation.
Voice
A thin, plaintive, drawn-out pseeeeuu, often repeated as a contact call between partners, and a soft, descending swee-swee-sweeoo as song. The sound is usually noticed before the bird.
Recording: Dries Van de Loock — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
About 11 cm. Head, back and underparts are almost uniform slate grey, the throat slightly paler; a narrow black line runs from the bill through the eye. Rump and uppertail coverts are bright crimson, the tail and undertail coverts black. The bill is blue-black with a paler base, the eye dark. The sexes are alike; the female is sometimes slightly duller, with less red on the flanks. Juveniles are browner grey, with a duller rump. Birds of KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique (incana) are paler grey than those of Angola and the north.
Confusion species
Swee Waxbill (Coccopygia melanotis) also has a red rump and a grey head, but an olive-green back, a yellowish belly and a red-and-black bill; the male has a black face. Black-Faced Waxbill (Brunhilda erythronotos) of dry acacia savanna has a black face and black belly, a finely barred back and wine-red flanks. Cinderella Waxbill (Glaucestrilda thomensis) of south-western Angola and north-western Namibia is paler, with pink flanks and a red bill base; the ranges do not overlap. Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild) is brown and finely barred, with a red eye-stripe and a red bill.
Habitat
The edges of coastal, lowland and riverine forest, dense scrub, creeper tangles, overgrown clearings and well-vegetated gardens; in Zimbabwe also forest edges in the Eastern Highlands. It feeds mainly on grass seeds, taken from the seedhead or picked up from the ground, and also on small insects. It sometimes joins Swee Waxbills or Green Twinspots.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Within the region in northern and western Angola, northern and eastern Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe (Manicaland), eastern Eswatini and eastern KwaZulu-Natal, south to the south of the province; exceptionally further inland in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Beyond the region from Gabon and Congo to the DR Congo and southern Tanzania.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen along the edges of coastal forest in Zululand, for example at St Lucia, Mtunzini or Kosi Bay, and in Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe, for the thin plaintive call from dense undergrowth. Wait at a clearing or a path: the birds fly low across, the red rump and black tail flashing briefly, and dive straight back into cover.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Locally common in suitable habitat, but vulnerable to the clearing of coastal forest and thicket, especially in KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique. It is sometimes trapped for the cage-bird trade.
Scientific name
Glaucestrilda perreini | (Vieillot, 1817)
Vieillot described the species in 1817 as Fringilla Perreini; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Glaucestrilda was introduced in 1922 by Roberts. Glaucestrilda combines the Greek glaukos, 'blue-grey, silvery', with the genus name Estrilda — for the grey waxbills of this genus. perreini honours the French naturalist Jean Perrein (1750–1805), who collected in tropical Africa. The specimen the first description was based on came from Malimbe, Cabinda (Angola).