Vidua purpurascens
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The purple indigobird (Vidua purpurascens) is a species of bird in the family Viduidae. It is a brood parasite and parasitizes (lays its eggs in the nest of) Jameson's Firefinch (Lagonosticta rhodopareia). It is also known as the dusky indigobird, a name which can refer to Vidua funerea. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is dry savanna.
Purple indigobird - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 2 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Indigobird sighting in Liwonde National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 205th 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.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Indigobird in Liwonde National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and June–January, the lowest months. That is one of Liwonde National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 300 mm in January.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple 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.
Yes
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Purple Indigobird sightings, Liwonde National Park has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, under 5%) and Kafue National Park (Zambia, under 5%).
Same genus: Vidua
The closest relatives of the Purple Indigobird 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 Purple Indigobird is recorded against all the birds logged in Liwonde National Park (14 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.
