Southern Red Bishop ( Euplectes orix, family: Ploceidae)

Birds & Birding in the Kruger National Park South Africa. In Roberts 6 this bird was called Red Bishop

southern red bishop kruger national park birds The Southern Red Bishop (Latin name Euplectes orix) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 824 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 1028 also a picture of the Southern Red Bishop on page 1025. The Southern Red Bishop belongs to the family of birds classified as Ploceidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Southern Red Bishop is also known by these other names: Crimson Weaver, Orix Bishop, Grenadier Weaver, Red Grenadier, Crimson Grenadier, Scarlet Grenadier.

In the previous edition of Roberts (ie 6th edition) the Southern Red Bishop was called the Red Bishop

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Southern Red Bishop is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Southern Red Bishop in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Southern Red Bishop : see above distribution map.

Southern Red Bishop Kruger National ParkIdentification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Southern Red Bishop is a small bird about the size of a house sparrow. Do not take this relative indicator as anything other than a rough easy to remember indicator. It is not a accurate visualization. The height of the Southern Red Bishop is about 13 cms and its weight is about 25 gms

You will find that the male Southern Red Bishop plumage and colours are different to that of the female Southern Red Bishop

  • Head is black, brown.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is black.
  • Throat is black.
  • Back is brown.
  • Legs are black.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Southern Red Bishop feeds on the ground, and on the wing mainly

Invertebrates

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Southern Red Bishop takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Southern Red Bishop is to create the nest in branches of a tree or shrub. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 2 to 5

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Southern Red Bishop are: woodlands and grasslands . The Southern Red Bishop is also at home in wetland areas.

You will normally see the Southern Red Bishop in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Intakomlilo/Ucumse/Umlilo

Zulu ... iBomvana/iNtakansinsi/isiGwe

Afrikaans ...Rooivink

German ... Oryxweber

Portuguese ... Cardeal-tecelo-vermelho

French ... Euplecte ignicolore

Dutch ... Grenadierwever

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 824

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za