Blue-breasted Cordonbleu

Blue-breasted Cordonbleu

Uraeginthus angolensis

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~60% · Likely
at Brazzaville

In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%

54 Verified sightings at Brazzaville
9,462 In all 20 parks From 2019 to 2026
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Blue-breasted Cordonbleu

The blue waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis), also called southern blue waxbill, blue-breasted waxbill, southern cordon-bleu, blue-cheeked cordon-bleu, blue-breasted cordon-bleu and Angola cordon-bleu, is a common species of estrildid finch found in Southern Africa. It is also relatively commonly kept as an aviary bird.

The blue waxbill was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla angolensis. Linnaeus based his description on the "Blue-Belly'd Finch" that had been described and illustrated in 1750 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Edwards had viewed a caged bird in London that had come from Angola. This species is now placed in the genus Uraeginthus that was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1851.

Three subspecies are recognized: The blue waxbill has powder-blue face, breast, rump, and flanks with pale brown upperparts. The female is paler than the male and the blue is confined to the rump, tail, head, and upper breast, with the rest of the underparts being buffy brown. They measure... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call1:15

Botswana · 2023

© Marc Anderson · XC1080584 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Alarm call0:10

Zambia · 2021

© Hans Matheve · XC699503 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Song1:14

South Africa · 2020

© Derek Solomon · XC538794 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Gonarezhou National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~70%
2 uMkhuze Game Reserve 🇿🇦 South Africa
~60%
3 South Luangwa National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~60%
4 Mana Pools National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~50%
5 Liwonde National Park 🇲🇼 Malawi
~50%
6 Kruger National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~50%
7 Lower Zambezi National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~50%
8 Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
9 Kafue National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~40%
10 Mikumi National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~40%
11 Pilanesberg National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
12 Gorongosa National Park 🇲🇿 Mozambique
~40%
13 Hwange National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~30%
14 Chobe National Park 🇧🇼 Botswana
~30%
15 Moremi Game Reserve 🇧🇼 Botswana
~30%
16 Waterberg Plateau Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~30%
17 Etosha National Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~20%
18 Ruaha National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%
19 iSimangaliso Wetland Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%
20 Tarangire National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Harare 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~70%
2 Lusaka 🇿🇲 Zambia
~60%
3 Brazzaville 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo
~60%
4 Dar es-Salaam 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~40%
5 Lilongwe 🇲🇼 Malawi
~30%
6 Luanda 🇦🇴 Angola
~30%
7 Lubango 🇦🇴 Angola
~20%
8 Pretoria 🇿🇦 South Africa
~10%
9 Maputo 🇲🇿 Mozambique
<5%
10 Johannesburg 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu in Brazzaville?

Likely

About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu sighting in Brazzaville on a given day, based on 54 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 82 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu in Brazzaville?

February and May

In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu in Brazzaville on a given day, against about 50% in January, April, July–August and October–November, the lowest months. June has too few records to rate.

What time of day is best to see a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu?

Between 9 am and noon

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-breasted Cordonbleu 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 Brazzaville the best place to see a Blue-breasted Cordonbleu?

3rd of 10

Of the 10 cities where we can rate Blue-breasted Cordonbleu sightings, Brazzaville ranks 3rd at about 60%. The best odds are in Harare (Zimbabwe, about 70%) and Lusaka (Zambia, about 60%).

Which relatives of the Blue-breasted Cordonbleu live in Brazzaville?

Same family: Estrildidae

The closest relatives of the Blue-breasted Cordonbleu that you can see in Brazzaville (family Estrildidae, Waxbills and Allies) are Bronze Mannikin (about 80%), Orange-cheeked Waxbill (about 10%) and Black-and-white Mannikin (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Blue-breasted Cordonbleu sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Blue-breasted Cordonbleu is recorded against all the birds logged in Brazzaville (54 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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