I have seen a few Pin-tailed Whydahs in various city parks around the Houston area and while it is certainly an impressive bird to see no matter where you are, it just wasn’t quite as exciting knowing that it doesn’t really belong here. For that reason, I didn’t ever make any effort to specifically go looking for them. In Ethiopia, on the other hand, they are native and I have to say it sure was exciting to see them in their element. I wonder how that long tail came about; sexual selection? I noticed that there are lots of birds in Africa with very long tails, I wonder if there is an advantage to it. All those curiosities aside, it was nice to just enjoy a really cool looking bird.

www.texastargetbirds.com

_MG_3529-web

Vidua macroura