Crimson Seedcracker

Pyrenestes sanguineus Swainson, 1837

Crimson Seedcracker, Pyrenestes sanguineus, is a bird of tropical West Africa, breeding from Senegal and Sierra Leone to Ivory Coast. It belongs to the estrildid finches and is a non-migratory species with a wide West African range. It is a shy, easily missed bird that lives in dense growth in swamps, marshes, tidal creeks, rice fields and bushy places near water. Its most notable feature is a broad, powerful bill, and it shows two bill forms that are not linked to sex, age, size or origin.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Estrildidae — Waxbills, Munias & Allies

Breeding range

Africa: Senegal and Sierra Leone to Ivory Coast