Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah

How to identify

Field marks

1. Breeding male has broad, long tail feathers with bluntly pointed to rounded tips
2. Male in the breeding season has a chestnut-orange patch on the nape
3. Non-breeding male has gray-brown upperparts with streaks
4. Non-breeding male has black and white head stripes

Male, female and young

Females and males in the non-breeding season have similar plumage and a body length of 14–15 cm; males in the breeding season measure 31–36 cm.

Similar species

Long-tailed Paradise Whydah

In the breeding season, the male Long-tailed Paradise Whydah has narrower, longer tail feathers and a pale yellowish-brown nape; the male of this species has an orange-brown nape.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: February–March and June · Most records: Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah has been recorded at 61 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 10 countries and regions.

Records by month Southern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Dzalanyama Forest ReserveMalawi36 records
2. Dzalanyama Forest Lodge areaMalawi23 records
3. Semahwa FarmZambia16 records

Countries and regions with the most records

MalawiZambiaZimbabweBotswanaTanzaniaMozambiqueAngolaUganda

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The broad-tailed paradise whydah (Vidua obtusa) is a species of bird in the family Viduidae. It is found in woodland and acacia savanna habitat in Sub-Saharan Africa from Angola to Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique. A brood parasite, it has a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed it as being of least concern.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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