Species group · Birds
Estrildid Finches
WAnimals has 2 species of estrildid finch, all in the family Estrildidae.
- 2 species
- 1 family
- 3 countries
- 5 parks
- Weight
- 10 g – 17 g
- Length
- 10 cm – 15 cm
- Lifespan
- 7 – 8 years
Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.
All 2 species of estrildid finches on WAnimals
Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
Conservation status
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
See the global conservation statusWhere they live
Recorded in 3 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Where to see them
Did you know…
Its wild populations come with black, red or yellow heads.
From Gouldian Finch
Head colour is a genetic trait with social consequences: individuals prefer to pair with their own morph, and mixed pairs produce female offspring with lower survival, a case of genetic incompatibility within a single species.
From Gouldian Finch
The chicks have tubercles at the corners of the bill that catch the light like small phosphorescent beads, guiding the parents to their mouths inside the dark hollow of the nest.
From Gouldian Finch
Young males learn their song by copying an adult tutor during a critical window in development, and the process has become one of the most widely used scientific models for the study of vocal learning.
From Zebra Finch
It is the standard model for studying how speech is learnt: the chick memorises a tutor's song during a critical window and then practises it for weeks until it can reproduce it, a process with direct parallels to human babbling.
From Zebra Finch
The parents sing to the eggs when it is hot: chicks that hear that call hatch smaller and cope better with high temperatures, a documented case of prenatal programming by sound.
From Zebra Finch