The indigobirds and whydahs, together with the cuckoo-finch, make up the family Viduidae; they are small passerine birds native to Africa.
The red-billed firefinch or Senegal firefinch is a small seed-eating bird in the family Estrildidae. This is a resident breeding bird in most of Sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2. It was introduced to Egypt, but the population there has become extinct. It was also introduced to southern Algeria where it is currently expanding northward.
The pin-tailed whydah is a small songbird with a conspicuous pennant-like tail in breeding males. It is a resident breeding bird in most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.
The long-tailed paradise whydah or eastern paradise whydah is from the family Viduidae of the order Passeriformes. They are small passerines with short, stubby bills found across Sub-Saharan Africa. They are mostly granivorous and feed on seeds that have ripen and fall on the ground. The ability to distinguish between males and females is quite difficult unless it is breeding season. During this time, the males molt into breeding plumage where they have one distinctive feature which is their long tail. It can grow up to three times longer than its own body or even more. Usually, the whydahs look like ordinary sparrows with short tails during the non-breeding season. In addition, hybridization can occur with these paradise whydahs. Males are able to mimic songs where females can use that to discover their mate. However, there are some cases where females don't use songs to choose their mate but they use either male characteristics like plumages or they can have a shortage of options with song mimicry. Paradise whydahs are brood parasites. They won't destroy the eggs that are originally there but will lay their own eggs in other songbirds nest. Overall, these whydahs are considered least concerned based on the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
The African firefinch, also called the dark firefinch or blue-billed firefinch due to the color of its bill, is a common species of estrildid finch found in almost all parts of Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 5,400,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi).
The rock firefinch is a species of estrildid finch found in the Jos Plateau of central Nigeria and in Cameroon. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 29,000 km². The rock firefinch was discovered recently, in 1998. Rock firefinches fall in the family Estrildidae, which contains small passerine birds of the Old World and Australasia. Rock firefinches seem to be most closely related to Mali firefinches and Chad firefinches. The species name sanguinodorsalis means blood-red back, which was chosen because it describes the vibrant red back color of the male plumage. The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
The Cameroon indigobird is a species of bird in the family Viduidae. It is considered by some authors to be a subspecies of the variable indigobird. They range from Sierra Leone to east Cameroon, north east Zaire and South Sudan.
The quailfinch indigobird is a small songbird. It is a resident breeding bird in The Gambia, Nigeria and Cameroon. It occurs in isolated localities, especially on river flood plains.
