East Africa’s grasslands and scrublands burst with tiny estrildid finches in impossible colors. Red-cheeked cordon-bleus seem impossibly blue against tawny savanna, while crimson-rumped waxbills flash scarlet in acacia thickets.

Purple grenadiers; the males wearing violet waistcoats inhabit dry thornbush. Cut-throat finches sport distinctive red throat slashes, and green-winged pytilias skulk in coastal scrub.

The pin-tailed whydah males grow absurd breeding tails, parasitizing estrildid nests. Watch mixed flocks at waterholes during dry season. They weave grass nests in thorny protection, raising multiple broods when rains bring seed abundance.