Red fody forest clearings, grasslands and cultivated areas, but not in dense forest. In Madagascar it is regarded as a pest of rice cultivation. It has been introduced to other areas of the Indian Ocean, included the Amirantes, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius and Réunion. The red fody feeds largely on seeds, especially grass seeds, and insects, but several other foodstuffs are also taken; these include fruit, nectar, household scraps and copra. Outside the breeding season, this bird is gregarious. As the breeding season approaches, males establish territories, about in diameter. The birds are monogamous, and the male starts building the nest in the
Réunion fody were bright red. Back and tail were brown. The belly was pale. The head of the females and the juvenile males was brown. Neck and wings were red. The throat was pale brown. The Réunion fody was once described as abundant and as pest that destroyed entire crops. It was last seen shortly after 1672. The reason for its extinction might be the predation by rats. A type of fody on Réunion was previously mentioned as "Foudia bruante" by Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller in the work "Planches Enluminées" in 1776. But after a hypothesis by Cheke and Hume "Foudia bruante"