Cut-throat Finch

Amadina fasciata

Other Names

  Cut-throat   Amadine cou-coupé, Cou-coupé   Bandamadine   Degollado, Pinzón Degollado, Capuchino de Cuello Cortado   Blodstrupevävare, afrikansk bandfink   Keelsnede wever, Bandvink   Gola tagliata

World: Africa, from Senegal and Gambia East to Ethiopia and Somalia and South to north-eastern South Africa.

Kenya: Absent from the South-West, the driest parts of the North-East and along the coast. Elsewhere fairly common below 1300m in dry thornbush and savannah.

This is a distinctive finch which is difficult to mistake for anything else. The male (above right) has the red throat marking from which it gets its name while the female's distinctly scaly look makes her almost as easy to identify. Usually seen in flocks, often with other finches.