Vidua regia
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Shaft-tailed Whydah sighting in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 202nd most-seen of the 334 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Shaft-tailed Whydah in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in February–April and June–November, the lowest months. That is one of Moremi Game Reserve's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against almost none in May.
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.
7th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Shaft-tailed Whydah sightings, Moremi Game Reserve ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe, about 10%), Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 10%) and Etosha National 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 Moremi Game Reserve (42 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.
