Where to see the Red-billed Firefinch in South Africa

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Red-billed Firefinch at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Addo Elephant National Park, Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, Mapungubwe National Park and Tsitsikamma National Park and other reserves. A record means a host has seen it on the property or nearby, which makes these the places to base yourself; it is never a guarantee of a sighting on any given day.

The Red-billed Firefinch is most recorded in Limpopo (30% of records), KwaZulu-Natal (29% of records), Mpumalanga (22% of records), based on 1,175 iNaturalist observations. 74 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the Red-billed Firefinch on site or nearby.

The Red-billed Firefinch is recorded throughout the year, so no month is the wrong month to look for it. For the parks where hosts record it most, these are the best seasons they give. Kruger National Park: Apr-Sep; Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park: Aug-Oct, flowers, Mar-May; Addo Elephant National Park: year-round, best Mar-May, Sep-Nov; Mapungubwe National Park: May-Sep, dry season. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

The Red-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

The red-billed firefinch or Senegal firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) is a small passerine bird. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in most of Sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2. This species was introduced to Egypt, however, the introduced population has become extinct.