Vidua chalybeata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The village indigobird (Vidua chalybeata), also known as the steelblue widowfinch or (in U.S. aviculture) the Combassou finch, is a small songbird belonging to the family Viduidae. It is distinguishable from other indigobird species by bill and leg colours, the colour tinge of the male's breeding plumage, song, and to lesser extent, the nestling's plumage and mouth pattern. The bill colour can be red or white depending on the population, and there is some regional variation in the colour tone of the male's plumage.
It is a resident breeding bird in most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. This indigobird is found in many open habitats including open woodland, scrub and cultivation, but, as its name implies, it is most readily seen near villages.
It is a brood parasite which lays its eggs in the nests of red-billed firefinches. Unlike the common cuckoo, it does not destroy the host's egg. Typically, 2-4 eggs are added to those already present. The eggs of both the host and the firefinch are white, although the indigobird's are slightly larger. The nestling indigobirds mimic the unique gape pattern of the fledglings of the host species... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 3 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 5 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 7 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 8 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 9 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 10 | Lilongwe | 🇲🇼 Malawi |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bird Kingdom | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Village Indigobird sighting in Kibale National Park on a given day, based on 90 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 175th most-seen of the 366 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May, July–August, October and December–February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Village Indigobird in Kibale National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, June, September and November, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Village Indigobird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
18th of 40
Of the 40 parks where we can rate Village Indigobird sightings, Kibale National Park ranks 18th at about 10%. The best odds are in Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 40%), Ruaha National Park (Tanzania, about 20%) and Lake Manyara National Park (Tanzania, about 20%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Village Indigobird is recorded against all the birds logged in Kibale National Park (90 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.
