whydah

Happy Gregorian New Year, all! I'm back, and have one last bird left over, so I'll post it now to get it out of the way:


whydah (HWID-uh, WID-uh) - n., any of about nine small finch-like African birds (genus Vidua) often kept as cage birds, distinguished in the male by black-and-white plumage and long tail feathers during breeding season.



Thanks, WikiMedia!

Note this is not all members of Vidua: the others, all having short tails, are called indigobirds. All Vidua are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, who then raise them -- each species parasitic on a specific species of finch. The name was originally widow-bird, but this was alterated to whydah to match a town in Benin formerly spelled Whydah, now Ouidah.

---L.