Northern Red Bishop
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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Northern Red Bishop | image = Euplectes-orix-1.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = Male | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Aves | ordo = Passeriformes | familia = Ploceidae | genus = Euplectes | species = E. orix | binomial = Euplectes orix | binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) }}
The Northern Red Bishop ( Euplectes orix) is a resident breeding bird species in most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.
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-brown, 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.
Reference
- Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1nl:Grenadierwever