Purple indigobird
Vidua purpurascens (Reichenow, 1883)
The purple indigobird (Vidua purpurascens) is a species in the family Viduidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 13.1 g to 13.6 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the purple indigobird
- Weight
- 13.1 g – 13.6 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Granivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- woodlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.25 – 3.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the purple indigobird live?
Not recorded
What is the purple indigobird?
The purple indigobird (Vidua purpurascens) is a species of bird in the family Viduidae. It is a brood parasite and parasitizes (lays its eggs in the nest of) Jameson's Firefinch (Lagonosticta rhodopareia). It is also known as the dusky indigobird, a name which can refer to Vidua funerea. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is dry savanna.
From the Wikipedia article “Purple indigobird” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purple_indigobird&oldid=1380595447), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the purple indigobird endangered?
The purple indigobird is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the purple indigobird classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyViduidae
- genusVidua
- SpeciesVidua purpurascens (Reichenow, 1883)
Synonyms Hypochera purpurascens, Vidua funerea purpurascens
Other names and names in other languages (34)
- Dusky indigobirdEnglish
- Dusky indigobirdEnglish
- PUINEnglish
- WitpootblouvinkieAfrikaans
- vídua violàciaCatalan
- atlásek tmavýCzech
- wida tywyllWelsh
- PurpuratlaskfinkeDanish
- PurpurwitweGerman
- Weißfuß-AtlaswitweGerman
- WeißfußatlaswitweGerman
- purpura viduoEsperanto
- Viuda purpúreaSpanish
- purppuraleskiFinnish
- Combassou violacéFrench
- Combassou noirâtreFrench
- ljubičasta udovičicaCroatian
- fehérlábú atlaszvidaHungarian
- Vedova foscaItalian
- スミレシコンチョウJapanese
- purpurinė našlytėLithuanian
- PurperstaalvinkDutch
- purpurglansenkeNorwegian
- wdówka purpurowaPolish
- viúva-púrpuraPortuguese
- Пурпурная вдовушкаRussian
- Фиолетовая вдовушкаRussian
- vdovka fialkastáSlovak
- Purpurna atlas udovicaSerbian
- purpurglansänkaSwedish
- Mor ÇivitkuşuTurkish
- вдовичка пурпуроваUkrainian
- 暗紫維達雀Chinese
- 暗色维达雀Chinese
Relatives of the purple indigobird
Other species in the same genus Vidua.
Pin-tailed whydah
Vidua macroura
Long-tailed paradise whydah
Vidua paradisaea
Village indigobird
Vidua chalybeata
Shaft-tailed whydah
Vidua regia
Straw-tailed whydah
Vidua fischeri
Dusky indigobird
Vidua funerea
ComparePurple indigobird vs Pin-tailed whydahPurple indigobird vs Long-tailed paradise whydahPurple indigobird vs Village indigobirdPurple indigobird vs Shaft-tailed whydah
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the purple indigobird?
An adult purple indigobird weighs 13.1 g – 13.6 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the purple indigobird endangered?
The purple indigobird is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the purple indigobird?
The purple indigobird (Vidua purpurascens) belongs to the family Viduidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Purple indigobird (Vidua purpurascens). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-indigobird
“Purple indigobird (Vidua purpurascens).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-indigobird.
@misc{purple_indigobird_2026,
title = {Purple indigobird (Vidua purpurascens)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-indigobird},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}