Black-winged Red Bishop

Euplectes hordeaceus (Linnaeus, 1758)

≈14 cmLength19 gWeight

In the breeding season, the male is mostly scarlet, with a black face, wings and belly, and a brown tail.

Most records: Ghana, Gambia, Uganda

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Male in breeding season has black face, wings and belly
Male in breeding season is mostly scarlet elsewhere
Male in breeding season has brown tail
Male in breeding season has thick, black, conical bill

Male, female and young

The non-breeding male is yellowish-brown with streaked upperparts; the female is similar but paler, and juveniles have broader pale edges to the flight feathers.

Voice

The male perches on tall grass and gives thin, high-pitched chirps.

Where and when it's recorded

Most records: Ghana, Gambia, Uganda

Black-winged Red Bishop has been recorded at 205 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 28 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Brufut WoodsGambia118 records
Farasuto Forest Community NRGambia106 records
Atewa – farm scrub and degraded forestGhana100 records

More places

Ebekawopa (Abrafo) – 'farm scrub' habitatGhana99 records
Katiyo Tea EstateZimbabwe96 records
Murchison Falls NP – North sideUganda96 records
Antwikwaa – forest edge & farm scrubGhana95 records
Brenu Beach – grasslandsGhana66 records
Amurum Forest ReserveNigeria53 records
Lake Manyara NPTanzania53 records

Countries and regions with the most records

Ghana Gambia Uganda Tanzania Zimbabwe Ethiopia Nigeria Zambia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The black-winged red bishop (Euplectes hordeaceus), formerly known in southern Africa as the fire-crowned bishop, is a resident breeding bird species in tropical Africa from Senegal to Sudan and south to Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

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