Southern Red Bishop

How to identify

Field marks

1. Breeding male has red-and-black plumage, sometimes tinged orange
2. Breeding male has red upper breast and undertail-coverts
3. Breeding male has red back and brown wings and tail
4. Bill thick and conical

Male, female and young

The non-breeding male and female are streaked brown with paler underparts; the female is smaller than the male.

Voice

Various twitters and nasal contact calls; the male's song is a buzzing sound.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: November–February · Most records: South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania

Southern Red Bishop has been recorded at 308 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 28 countries and regions.

Records by month Southern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Rietvlei NRSouth Africa979 records
2. Marievale Bird SanctuarySouth Africa847 records
3. Abu Dhabi Golf and Equestrian ClubUnited Arab Emirates687 records

Countries and regions with the most records

South AfricaUgandaTanzaniaNamibiaUnited Arab EmiratesMozambiqueZambiaZimbabwe

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 southern red bishop or red bishop (Euplectes orix) is a small passerine bird belonging to the bishop and widowbird genus Euplectes in the weaver family, the 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 bishop (E. franciscanus) which was formerly regarded as a subspecies of this species.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions