Endangered
Aldabra Fody
Foudia aldabrana
The Aldabra fody is a passerine bird in the family Ploceidae.
Appearance
The Aldabra fody's bill is markedly long and heavy, a distinctive characteristic. The female is similar to a sparrow, but more yellow, with dark streaks and a more powerful bill. The breeding plumage of the male is orange-scarlet on the head and breast, with yellow on the back and body, sides and flanks imbued with olive-gray, a sulfur-yellow belly, yellowish white tips on the median covert feathers, and an orange rump.
Range and habitat
The Aldabra fody is endemic to Aldabra, an atoll located about 400 kilometres (250 mi) northwest of Madagascar, belonging to Seychelles. The species is widespread on Aldabra, found on all main islands, as well as smaller islets of the lagoon. The Aldabra fody can be found in scrub, Cocos nucifera groves, or Casuarina woodland.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
The birds prefer to nest in coconut palms and Casuarina trees, neither of that are native to Aldabra. Both sexes are yellow in color across much of the body, with breeding males orange-scarlet on the head and neck.
In crisis
Nesting occurs over several months, often in introduced coconut palms and Casuarina trees. The Aldabra fody is considered endangered by the IUCN, threatened by predation of nests and drought. The Aldabra fody's nesting success may be very low due to the rate at that nestlings and eggs are taken by predators such as the pied crow and black rat.
Hybridization with the Madagascar fody has been cited as a threat to the Aldabra fody's genetic integrity, although the IUCN has stated that successful effort to eradicate hybrid fodies means that hybridization is not currently causing a decline in the overall Aldabra fody population. The organization has designated the species as endangered.
Aldabra Fody is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Aldabra Fody, Wikidata item Q12257927. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
