Common Waxbill

Description:

Small bird, 11 to 13 cm in length, with a wingspan of 12 to 14 cm. It has a slender body with short rounded wings and a long graduated tail. Bright red bill. The plumage is mostly grey-brown, finely barred with dark brown. There is a red stripe through the eye, and the cheeks and throat are white. There is a reddish stripe along the centre of the belly depending on the subspecies. The rump is brown and the tail and vent are dark.

Habitat:

It is native to sub-Saharan Africa but has been introduced to many other regions of the world, including Portugal, and now has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2.

Notes:

It is popular and easy to keep in captivity. The bright red bill of the adult is the colour of sealing wax giving the bird its name.