Common Waxbill
Estrilda astrild
Habitat
Ground
Diet
PlantSeed
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
8 g
About This Species
Look for a small, streaky finch with a red eye-stripe and a stout reddish bill, feeding on grass seeds low in vegetation or hopping along the ground in tight, twittering flocks near reed beds, rank grassland and cultivated edges. It is native to parts of Africa but has established introduced populations elsewhere, and in those areas it can often be found year-round near suitable seeding grasses. Listen for its buzzy, trilling calls, which often give away a flock's position before individual birds are visible in cover.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Approach feeding flocks slowly and stay far enough back that birds continue foraging rather than bolting for cover, since flushing repeatedly wastes energy they need for feeding and predator vigilance.
- Legal protections for wild birds differ substantially between its native range and the various countries where introduced populations now occur, so any specific rule should be treated as local rather than assumed to travel with the species.
- Where the status is uncertain, simply avoid handling, nest disturbance, or crowding a flock at close range.
Seasonal Activity
494,886 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Estrildidae
Traits
- Diet
- PlantSeed
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 8 g
Photo
(c) David Barros Cardona, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by David Barros Cardona
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.