Shaft-tailed Whydah (Vidua regia)
About the Shaft-tailed Whydah
The shaft-tailed whydah or queen whydah (Vidua regia) is a small, sparrow-like bird in the genus Vidua. During the breeding season the male has black crown and upper body plumage, golden breast and four elongated black tail shaft feathers with expanded tips. After the breeding season is over, the male sheds its long tail and grows olive brown female-like plumage. The shaft-tailed whydah is distributed in open habitats and grasslands of Southern Africa, from south Angola to south Mozambique. It is a brood parasite to the violet-eared waxbill. The diet consists mainly of seeds. Widespread and a common species throughout its large habitat range, the shaft-tailed whydah is evaluated as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 11 recordings for this species: 1 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Namibia, South Africa in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Village IndigobirdVidua chalybeatarecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.