Yellow-crowned bishop
Yellow-crowned bishop | |
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A breeding male (E. afer subsp. taha) displaying near Lake Baringo, Kenya, and a captive female (nominate race) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Ploceidae |
Genus: | Euplectes |
Species: | E. afer
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Binomial name | |
Euplectes afer (Gmelin, 1789)
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Synonyms | |
Taha afer |
The yellow-crowned bishop (Euplectes afer) is a species of passerine bird in the family Ploceidae native to Africa south of the Sahara.[2] 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.
Taxonomy
The yellow-crowned bishop was
A molecular genetic study published in 2019 found that within the genus Euplectes, the golden-backed bishop (Euplectes aureus) branched off first and this was followed by the yellow-crowned bishop.[9] Alternate common names include: golden bishop, Napoleon bishop, Napoleon weaver, black-winged golden bishop, goudgeelvink (in Afrikaans), Napoleonwever (in Dutch), euplecte vorabé (in French), Napoleonweber (in German), and obispo coronigualdo (in Spanish).
Four subspecies are recognised:[8]
- E. a. strictus Hartlaub, 1857 – central Ethiopia
- E. a. afer (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia to west Sudan, DR Congo and northwest Angola
- E. a. ladoensis Reichenow, 1885 – south Sudan and southwest Ethiopia to north Tanzania
- E. a. taha Smith, A, 1836 – southwest Angola, Zambia and southwest Tanzania to South Africa
Description
The yellow-crowned bishop is 95 to 105 mm (3.7–4.1 in) in length and 15 g (0.53 oz) in weight.[10] During the breeding season it is sexually dimorphic — that is, the observable characteristics of the males become more apparent. During the breeding season, the male has distinctive golden yellow and black plumage. The bill of both sexes is short and conical. The color of the male's bill is black during breeding season; by contrast, during non-breeding season, the male's bill is horn in color, as is the female's. The legs and feet are pinkish brown. The male has a black lower face, throat, breast and belly, a wide black collar on the back of the neck, and a brilliant yellow crown, forehead, and hindcrown. There is a yellow patch on the shoulder, and the rump and back are yellow. The wings and tail are brown. During non-breeding seasons the male plumage looks like the female plumage.[10] The female yellow-crowned bishop has pale brown upperparts, with darker streaking. The eyebrow is paler and the underparts are off-white with fine dark streaks on the breast and flanks.[10]
The male in breeding plumage resembles the yellow bishop, but the latter species is larger and lacks the yellow crown. Non-breeding males and females can be confused with those of the southern red bishop, but have white rather than the buff-coloured underparts of the latter.[11]
Distribution and habitat
The yellow-crowned bishop is native to the African countries of:
Behaviour
The yellow-crowned bishop eats insects, grain, and seeds. It lives in flocks with both males and females. In non-breeding seasons the flocks may contain
Gallery
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E. a. afer breeding male (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) in Irvine, California, where exotic
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E. a. strictus breeding male, G.Hartlaub, 1857, in the Ethiopian Highlands
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E. a. ladoensis breeding male (Reichenow, 1885) of the eastern tropics. The race is usually subsumed in E. a. taha, Smith, 1836
References
- ^ a b c BirdLife International (2012). "Euplectes afer". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ "Yellow-crowned Bishop Euplectes afer". BirdLife International. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 857.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Brown, Peter (1776). Nouvelles illustrations de zoologie : contenant cinquante planches enlumineés d'oiseaux curieux, et qui non etés jamais descrits, et quelques de quadrupedes, de reptiles et d'insectes, avec de courtes descriptions systematiques (in French and English). London: B. White. p. 58, Plate 24.
- ^ Grant, C.H.B.; Mackworth-Praed, C.W. (1944). "Notes on eastern African birds". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 65: 9–11 [10].
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1962). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 15. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 65.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Old World sparrows, snowfinches, weavers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
- .
- ^ a b c d e "Species information page – Yellow-crowned (Golden) Bishop". SASOL Bird e-Guide. BirdLife. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ISBN 1-77007-243-8.
- ^ a b "Yellow-crowned Bishop (Euplectes afer, family: Ploceidae)". Kruger National Park.
- ^ "Yellow-crowned Bishops". 9 August 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
- ^ a b "Euplectes afer". Kenya Birds. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ "Euplectes afer (Yellow-crowned bishop, Golden bishop)". Biodiversity Explorer. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
External links
- (Yellow-crowned bishop = ) Golden bishop - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
- Photos of breeding and winter plumage
- Photo gallery