Black-winged Red Bishop

Taxobox
name = Black-winged Red Bishop

---

status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Ploceidae
genus = "Euplectes"
species = "E. hordeaceus"
binomial = "Euplectes hordeaceus"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Black-winged Red Bishop ("Euplectes hordeaceus") is a resident breeding bird species in tropical Africa from Senegal to Sudan and south to Angola and Tanzania.

This common weaver occurs in a range of open country, especially tall grassland and often near water. It builds a spherical woven nest in tall grass. 2-4 eggs are laid.

The Black-winged Red Bishop is a stocky 13-15cm bird. The breeding male is scarlet apart from his black face, belly and wings and brown tail. The conical bill is thick and black. He displays prominently, singing high-pitched twitters from tall grass, puffing out his feathers or performing a slow hovering display flight.

The non-breeding male is yellow-brown, streaked above and shading to whitish below. It has a whitish supercilium. It resembles non-breeding male Northern Red Bishop, but is darker and has black wings. Females are similar, but paler. Young birds have wider pale fringes on their flight feathers.

The Black-winged Red Bishop is a gregarious species which feeds on seed, grain and some insects.

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* "Birds of The Gambia" by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1