Vidua regia
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
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.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the shaft-tailed whydah in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the African coast. He used the French name La veuve de la côte d'Afrique and the Latin Vidua Riparia Africana. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | Waterberg Plateau Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 3 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 4 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 7 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 8 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | African Dawn Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Shaft-tailed Whydah sighting in Etosha National Park on a given day, based on 160 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 121st most-seen of the 260 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.
January to April
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Shaft-tailed Whydah in Etosha National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–July and October, the lowest months. Those are among Etosha National Park's wettest months, with about 55 mm of rain a month against almost none in June.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Shaft-tailed Whydah sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Shaft-tailed Whydah sightings, Etosha National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe, about 10%) and Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Shaft-tailed Whydah is recorded against all the birds logged in Etosha National Park (160 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
