Northern Red Bishop
Encyclopedia
The Northern Red Bishop or Orange Bishop (Euplectes franciscanus) is a resident breeding bird
species in Africa
south of the Sahara Desert and north of the Equator
. It has been introduced
to Puerto Rico
, Martinique
and Guadeloupe
in the West Indies. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies
of the Southern Red Bishop
(Euplectes orix) of the southern half of Africa. The two are now usually classified as separate species.
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 Northern Red Bishop is a stocky 13–15 cm. bird. The breeding male is scarlet apart from his black head and waistcoat, and brown wings and tail. The conical bill is thick and black. He displays prominently, singing high-pitched squeaks from tall grass, puffing out his feathers or performing a slow hovering display flight.
The non-breeding male is pale yellow streaked above and shading to whitish below. It has a buff supercilium
. Females are similar, but smaller. Young birds have wider pale fringes on their flight feathers.
The Northern Red Bishop is a gregarious species which feeds on seed, grain and some insects, all the time making a thin tsip call.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
species in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
south of the Sahara Desert and north of the Equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
. It has been introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
and Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
in the West Indies. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of the Southern Red Bishop
Southern Red Bishop
The Southern Red Bishop or Red Bishop is a small passerine bird belonging to the bishop and widowbird genus Euplectes in the weaver family Ploceidae. It is common in wetlands and grassland in Africa south of the Equator. North of the Equator, it is replaced by the Northern Red Bishop or Orange...
(Euplectes orix) of the southern half of Africa. The two are now usually classified as separate species.
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 Northern Red Bishop is a stocky 13–15 cm. bird. The breeding male is scarlet apart from his black head and waistcoat, and brown wings and tail. The conical bill is thick and black. He displays prominently, singing high-pitched squeaks from tall grass, puffing out his feathers or performing a slow hovering display flight.
The non-breeding male is pale yellow streaked above and shading to whitish below. It has a buff supercilium
Supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head. Also known as an "eyebrow", it is distinct from the eyestripe, which is a line which runs...
. Females are similar, but smaller. Young birds have wider pale fringes on their flight feathers.
The Northern Red Bishop is a gregarious species which feeds on seed, grain and some insects, all the time making a thin tsip call.