Red fody Red fody The red fody ("Foudia madagascariensis"), sometimes known as the Madagascar fody, red cardinal fody or common fody, is a small bird native to Madagascar and introduced to various other islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a common bird within its restricted range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern". In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the red fody in his "Ornithologie" based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name "Le cardinal de Madagascar" and the Latin
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"