Vidua funerea
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The name dusky indigobird can also refer to Vidua purpurascens. The dusky indigobird, variable indigobird, or black widowfinch (Vidua funerea) is a species of bird in the family Viduidae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is moist savanna.
Dusky indigobird - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 2 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 4 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Widowfinch sighting in Liwonde National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 214th most-seen of the 267 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–May and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Widowfinch in Liwonde National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June and August–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Widowfinch sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Black Widowfinch sightings, Liwonde National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique, about 10%) and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (South Africa, about 10%).
Same genus: Vidua
The closest relatives of the Black Widowfinch that you can see in Liwonde National Park (genus Vidua, Indigobirds and Whydahs) are Village Indigobird (about 10%), Pin-tailed Whydah (about 10%) and Long-tailed Paradise Whydah (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Widowfinch is recorded against all the birds logged in Liwonde National Park (11 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.
