What is "nigrita"

Nigrita is a town and a former municipality in the Serres regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Visaltia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is situated in the wide plain south of the river Strymonas, at the northern foot of the Kerdylio mountains, in the southern part of the Serres regional unit. Nigrita is located 20 km south of Serres, and 56 km northeast of Thessaloniki.

The nigritas or negrofinches are small passerine birds belonging to the genus Nigrita in the estrildid finch family Estrildidae. There are four species which occur in forest, secondary growth and scrubland in West, Central and East Africa.

They are 10-15 centimetres long. The bill is short and black and is fairly slender in some species. The colour of the plumage varies but all have a dark tail. The upperparts are grey or brown and the underparts are black, grey, white or reddish-brown. The grey-headed negrofinch and male pale-fronted negrofinch have a black face and the white-breasted negrofinch has a black cap. Negrofinches have whistling or trilling songs and calls.

They feed on insects, fruit and seeds. They often forage high in the treetops, usually alone or in pairs.