Bluebill

For the Australian duck, see Blue-billed duck. For the American duck, see Greater scaup. For the plant, see Clematis pitcheri.

The bluebills are the genus Spermophaga of the estrildid finches family. These birds are found in tropical Africa. They are gregarious seed eaters with short, thick, blue and red bills. All have plumage which is mainly crimson and black or dark grey.

Bluebills
Western bluebill (Spermophaga haematina)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Estrildidae
Genus:	Spermophaga Swainson, 1837
Type species
Spermophaga cyanorynchus Swainson, 1837=Loxia haematina Vieillot, 1807
Species
S. poliogenys S. haematina S. ruficapilla

Taxonomy

The genus Spermophaga was introduced in 1837 by the English zoologist William Swainson to accommodate a single species Spermophaga cyanorhynchus Swainson.^[1] This taxon is now treated as a junior synonym of Loxia haematina that had been described by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1807, the western bluebill.^[2][3] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek σπερμα/sperma, σπερματος/spermatos meaning "seed" with -φαγος/-phagos meaning "-eating".^[4]

Species

The genus contains three species:^[3]

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Grant's bluebill	Spermophaga poliogenys	Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
	Western bluebill	Spermophaga haematina	Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
	Red-headed bluebill	Spermophaga ruficapilla	Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.