About Anomalospiza imberbis (Cabanis, 1868)
Description: The cuckoo-finch (Anomalospiza imberbis) is a small finch-like bird, measuring roughly 11–13 cm in length. It has a short tail, large legs and feet, and a large, deep, conical bill. Adult males have a black bill, a yellow head, and yellow underparts. Their upperparts are olive-green with black streaks, and the yellow areas become increasingly bright before the breeding season as the feathers wear. Adult females are buff overall, with heavy black streaking on the upperparts and light streaking on the flanks; their face is mostly plain buff, and the throat is buff-white. This species makes a variety of chattering calls, and displaying males produce a nasal song.
Distribution and habitat: The cuckoo-finch has a scattered distribution across sub-Saharan Africa. It lives in open or lightly wooded grassland, especially areas near damp sites. In West Africa, it is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, eastern Nigeria, and north-west Cameroon, with vagrant individuals recorded in Gambia and Mali. Further east, it occurs in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the southern and eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and locally in the Republic of the Congo. In southern Africa, it is present in Malawi, Zambia, southern and eastern Angola, north-east Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eastern South Africa, and Eswatini. It has a large range and an apparently stable population, so it is classified as Least Concern by BirdLife International.
