This species and the Purple Indigobird (Purple Widowinch) V. purpurascens show great similarity in their distributions which, in southern Africa, are predominantly in the savannahs and broad-leafed woodlands of Zimbabwe, northern South Africa, and eastern and northern Botswana. In Namibia, both occur very rarely along the Okavango River, with only this species occurring in the thorn savannahs and edges of broadleafed woodland in the Zambezi region. Here, they are found only in the wetter months, from October to April. Both species have also been recorded in the woodland associated with the Kunene River near Ruacana, and occasionally into the Cuvelai drainage system in northern Namibia. The more common Village Indigobird occupies 8,400 km2 in Namibia (14% of which is in protected areas), with a reporting rate of 7%, and is a brood parasite of the Red-billed Fireinch Lagonosticta senegala and the Brown Fireinch L. nitidula.