UGANDA BIRD GUIDES
The Red-headed Bluebill
a.k.a
Spermophaga ruficapilla

Planning a birding Safari at the end your next business trip to Africa...? Get ready to enjoy the beautiful Red-headed Bluebill.

The Red-headed Bluebill is a gobsmackingly pretty finch with a black black and chest, the chest spotted white in the female. This Uganda bird has a red head and breast. The red-headed blue bill is a common species of estrildidae and was scientifically named by Shelly in 1888. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 560,000 square km.

In this section of the Birding Safari Guide we share with you information about Red-headed Bluebills in Uganda in order to make your Bird watching tour to Africa even more fascinating.

You will find information about:

• Where to find the Red-headed Bluebill in Uganda
• How to Identify a Red-headed Bluebill and
• Interesting facts about Red-headed Bluebills

Where to find the Red-headed Bluebill in Uganda

You will normally find pairs or groups of families feeding on African forest trails at dawn and dusk.

You can also find Red-headed Bluebills in secondary growth and moist thickets from 700-2150 meters.

In Uganda you will easily see these birds in lodge grounds in Buhoma-Bwindi National Park and in Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary-Near Kibale.

How you will know that you've seen a Red-headed Bluebill

You will see a heavy billed bird about 14cm long.

The adult male bird has the whole head, breast and flanks red, with a red rump and black tail. His bill is grey with pink cutting edges.

The female bird is similar to the male one but has bold white spots from the breast to vent.

The immature bird is dark slate above with a variable red wash to the head breast and rump, rich dark brown below, with a blue-grey bill.

These birds feed on small insects like spiders, on grain and on seeds.

Interesting Facts about Red-headed Bluebills

Red-headed Bluebills have a whistled song that is rather sibilant: it starts with a short note, then a short series of rising notes, and a longer series of rising upslurs si-sisi-su-wii si-sis-swiswiswiswiswiswi with the emphasis on the last note.

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