Re: WEAVERS - BIRD OF THE MONTH - JUNE 2014
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 10:18 pm
long-tailed widowbird
breeding male
transitional male
N14 October 2013
breeding male
transitional male
N14 October 2013
Red Bishop, Southern Red Bishop Euplectes orix
Description
Length ♂ 12-13 cm, ♀ 11-12 cm; wing (192 ♂) 65-71-79, (222 ♀) 59-63,1-68,5; tail (153 ♂) 35-39,8-45,5, (147 ♀) 30,5-34,9-42
Iris brown; bill black (breeding ♂) or pinkish horn, culmen dusky (female and non-breedingeeding male); legs and feet pinkish brown.
Breeding ♂: Forecrown, face and throat black (forecrown scarlet in Firecrowned Bishop; only forehead narrowly black); rest of head, breast, lower belly and rump brilliant orange-scarlet; upper belly black; mantle orange-brown; wings and tail brown.
Female and non-breedingeeding ♂: Above boldly streaked buff and dark brown; eyebrow whitish; below white, washed buff and streaked brown on breast and flanks; wings and tail dark brown.
Immature: Similar to adult ♀, but yellower on throat and breast.
Call
Sharp chiz chiz callnotes; song wheezy whining chsssss zeeeee tsarippy-tsarippy-tsarippy ts-ts-ts-ts-ts zwipzwaay, etc.
Distribution
Africa S of Sahara; throughout most of South Africa except central Kalahari basin and nw Namibia.
Status
Very common resident, less common in dry W; nomadic in winter.
Habitat
Rank grass, reedbeds, bullrushes and sedges in marshes, vleis, dams and rivers; also gardens, orchards, cultivated fields, open grassland.
Behaviour
Gregarious at all times, non-breedingeeding flocks sometimes numbering hundreds of birds, causing losses to grain crops. Forages on ground, walking in short steps; also visits feeding trays. Male displays from perch or in beelike cruising flight on rapidly beating wings, plumage puffed out, uttering swizzling song; sometimes several males display simultaneously in different parts of reedbed. Males often chase females and rival males.
Food
Seeds, grain; insects fed to young.
Breeding
Males polygamous, with up to 7 females each.
Season: July to December in SW Cape, September to March in S Cape, October to April (mainly December-February) in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, November to April (mainly December-March) in Orange Free State, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Nest: Thin-walled upright oval woven by ♂ of fine strips of grass and reed leaves, with porched side-top entrance; thinly lined by ♀ with soft grass flowers; attached to upright reed, grass or weed stems (also built in maize fields), or thin vertical branches of tree; usually 1-2 m above ground or water, less often up to 8 m up in tree; usually colonial, sometimes solitary.
Clutch: usually 3 eggs.
Eggs: Plain greenish blue
Incubation: 12-13 days by ♀ only.
