Bar-breasted Firefinch

Bar-breasted Firefinch

Lagonosticta rufopicta

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Abuja

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%

16 Verified sightings at Abuja
74 In all 2 parks From 2019 to 2026
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Bar-breasted Firefinch

The bar-breasted firefinch (Lagonosticta rufopicta) is a common species of estrildid finch found in western and central Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 2,900,000 km². The bar-breasted firefinch with a red head and breast and white barring or speckling on the breast. The forehead, lores and supercilium are deep red fading on the ear coverts, chin, throat and neck sides to less intensely red colour. The crown and most of the upperparts are greyish brown and rather uniform contrasting with deep red lower rump and upper tail coverts. Tail is darker brown than back with variable amounts of red near the base. Flight feathers are dark. The underparts below the crimson breast are buffy grey. Juveniles are much duller with red being confined to the rump and upper tail coverts. 11 cm in length.

The bar-breasted firefinch is found from the Gambia and southern Senegal east to western Uganda and eastern Kenya. The bar-breasted firefinch is a common bird of grassland, bush, acacia savanna and forest clearings but will also occur near settlements and in farmland, especially in damp areas. It occurs in pairs and... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Begging call0:57

Benin · 2019

© Bram Piot · XC454658 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:33

Ethiopia · 2015

© Andrew Spencer · XC278380 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Call0:19

Ethiopia · 2011

© Jelmer Poelstra · XC83688 · CC BY-NC-ND 2.5

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Murchison Falls National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~10%
2 Niokolo-Koba National Park 🇸🇳 Senegal
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kumasi 🇬🇭 Ghana
~10%
2 Accra 🇬🇭 Ghana
~10%
3 Abuja 🇳🇬 Nigeria
~10%
4 Serrekunda 🇬🇲 Gambia
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Bar-breasted Firefinch in Abuja?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-breasted Firefinch sighting in Abuja on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 79th most-seen of the 131 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Bar-breasted Firefinch in Abuja?

February and November

In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Bar-breasted Firefinch in Abuja on a given day, against under 5% in April–May and July–October, the lowest months. Those are among Abuja's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 250 mm in August.

What time of day is best to see a Bar-breasted Firefinch?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bar-breasted Firefinch sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Abuja the best place to see a Bar-breasted Firefinch?

Among the best

Of the 4 cities where we can rate Bar-breasted Firefinch sightings, Abuja ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Kumasi (Ghana, about 10%) and Accra (Ghana, about 10%).

Where does the Bar-breasted Firefinch sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Bar-breasted Firefinch is recorded against all the birds logged in Abuja (16 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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