Shaft-tailed Whydah

Queen Dowager ( Vidua regia)

The Queen Dowager ( Vidua regia ) is a species of bird in the family of the widow birds ( Viduidae ).

Features

The king's widow is usually 13 cm long. The female and the male in the simplicity dress are on the upper side yellow-brown with dark stripes and hand white and tawny.

In breeding plumage, the male on top and rump black and at the bottom is colored golden yellow. The dark tail, which is extended strongly to the wire-like feathers means that males in the breeding season is 30 cm long. After the nesting season, the long feathers fall out during moulting.

Occurrence

The Queen Dowager inhabited subtropical savannas in parts of southern Africa.

Behavior

Outside the breeding season, the birds gather in large flocks to forage and to sleep in tall trees. The Queen Dowager hops while foraging around and pushes the soil to the side to expose seeds and grains.

Reproduction

In the mating season the male leads before the long tail at Sing flights to attract females.

The Queen Dowager is a nesting parasite whose main victim is the Granatastrild. The female lays four to five eggs in different nests, rarely two or more in the same nest. The young king widows same in revenge drawing and their begging call the young Granatastrilden, therefore it is not necessary to remove the eggs of the host bird. The adult Queen Dowager mimics often still the song of Granatastrilds after.