Estrilda paludicola
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The fawn-breasted waxbill (Estrilda paludicola) is a common species of estrildid finch found in central Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 1,800,000 km2. Estrilda paludicola, E. ochrogaster and E. poliopareia have been lumped into E. paludicola (Dowsett and Forbes-Watson 1993).
The fawn-breasted waxbill was formally described in 1863 by the German explorer and ornithologist Theodor von Heuglin from a specimen collected on the middle course of the Bahr el Ghazal River in South Sudan. He placed the species in the genus Estrilda (which he spelled as Estrelda) and coined the binomial name Estrilda paludicola. The specific epithet paludicola is Latin meaning "marsh-dweller" (from palus, paludis meaning "swamp" and -cola meaning "dweller").
Six subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Odzala-Kokoua National Park | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 2 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 9 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 10 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 11 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 12 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fawn-breasted Waxbill sighting in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, based on 108 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 190th most-seen of the 434 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March, May, July–September and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fawn-breasted Waxbill in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, April, June and October–November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fawn-breasted Waxbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Fawn-breasted Waxbill sightings, Queen Elizabeth National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (Republic of the Congo, about 20%), Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 10%) and Akagera National Park (Rwanda, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fawn-breasted Waxbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Queen Elizabeth National Park (108 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.
