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Common Waxbill
Estrilda astrild
41.6329, -8.3503
Field Notes
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.
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