Yellow-crowned Bishop (Euplectes afer)
Illustration redrawn by AI from a real photograph

Yellow-crowned Bishop

Euplectes afer (Gmelin, JF, 1789)

≈11 cmLength14 gWeight

In the breeding season, the male has a yellow head and back, with a black lower face, throat, breast and belly.

Busiest months: August–September · Most records: Portugal, South Africa, Spain

Looks like Southern Red Bishop

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

  1. Male in breeding season has bright yellow crown and forehead
  2. Breeding male has black lower face, throat, breast and belly
  3. Breeding male has yellow back and rump, with yellow patches on the scapulars
  4. Bill short and conical

Male, female and young

The male is golden-yellow and black in the breeding season, while the female is mainly brown; outside the breeding season, the male resembles the female.

Voice

An insect-like, high-pitched hissing: “zzzzzzz, zzit, zzit, zzzz”.

Similar species

Southern Red Bishop
Southern Red Bishop

Males in non-breeding plumage and females are easily confused; Yellow-crowned Bishop has white underparts, while Southern Red Bishop has pale yellowish-brown underparts.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: August–September · Most records: Portugal, South Africa, Spain

Yellow-crowned Bishop has been recorded at 264 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 41 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. Lezíria Grande de Vila Franca de Xira – área geralPortugal3,101 records
  2. Paul da BarrocaPortugal1,578 records
  3. Ria de Aveiro – SalreuPortugal865 records
More places
  1. Barrinha de EsmorizPortugal828 records
  2. Brazo del Este PjeNat – ÁreaSpain759 records
  3. RN Estuário do Tejo – EVOA – área geralPortugal360 records
  4. Marievale Bird SanctuarySouth Africa350 records
  5. Quinta da AtalayaPortugal333 records
  6. RN Estuário do Sado – ZambujalPortugal333 records
  7. Nairobi NPKenya261 records

Countries and regions with the most records

PortugalSouth AfricaSpainKenyaGambiaUnited Arab EmiratesGhanaSenegal

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 yellow-crowned bishop (Euplectes afer) is a species of passerine bird in the family Ploceidae native to Africa south of the Sahara. It is highly sexually dimorphic in its breeding season, during which the male adopts a distinctive yellow and black plumage, contrasting with the female's predominantly brown coloration. Four subspecies are recognised.

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

Questions

How big is the Yellow-crowned Bishop?

The Yellow-crowned Bishop is about ≈11 cm long and weighs around 14 g.

Where does the Yellow-crowned Bishop live?

Its breeding range: Africa: western, central, eastern, southern. It is most often recorded in Portugal, South Africa and Spain.

When is the best time to see the Yellow-crowned Bishop?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in August and September (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Yellow-crowned Bishop endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Yellow-crowned Bishop as Least Concern.

What does the Yellow-crowned Bishop eat?

Main food: Seeds.

What family is the Yellow-crowned Bishop in?

It belongs to the family Weavers, Widowbirds (Ploceidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length
≈11 cm
Weight
14 g
Habitat
Wetland
Diet
Seeds
Lifestyle
Active on the ground
Migration
Resident (barely migrates)
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
55 mm
Tail
32 mm
Bill
14 mm
Tarsus
16 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Africa: western, central, eastern, southern

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Classification

Order
Passerines Passeriformes
Family
Weavers, Widowbirds Ploceidae
Genus
Euplectes

Other birds in the genus Euplectes

Fire-fronted BishopFire-fronted BishopEuplectes diadematusBlack BishopBlack BishopEuplectes gierowiiZanzibar Red BishopZanzibar Red BishopEuplectes nigroventrisBlack-winged Red BishopBlack-winged Red BishopEuplectes hordeaceusSouthern Red BishopSouthern Red BishopEuplectes orixNorthern Red BishopNorthern Red BishopEuplectes franciscanusGolden-backed BishopGolden-backed BishopEuplectes aureusYellow BishopYellow BishopEuplectes capensisFan-tailed WidowbirdFan-tailed WidowbirdEuplectes axillarisYellow-mantled WidowbirdYellow-mantled WidowbirdEuplectes macrouraMarsh WidowbirdMarsh WidowbirdEuplectes hartlaubiMontane WidowbirdMontane WidowbirdEuplectes psammacromius
Yellow-crowned Bishop

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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Pieter Kotze. ↗

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