The Yellow-mantled Widowbird lives near wet grassland and swamps in Africa. It searches for seeds on the ground. Breeding-plumaged males display on the ground or on low vegetation; their black bodies carry yellow shoulder patches whose extent varies among subspecies.
A breeding-plumaged male is black with bright yellow shoulder patches. The amount of yellow varies among subspecies, so males from every region do not show an identical patch.
It uses open waterside places such as wet grassland and freshwater swamps. By day it searches on the ground for seeds; during breeding, males display on the ground and on trees or bushes.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.