Black-winged Red Bishop vs Northern Red Bishop

Black-winged Red Bishop

Euplectes hordeaceus

Small19 gGrassland

The black-winged red bishop is a stocky 13–15 cm (5.1–5.9 in) bird. The breeding male is scarlet apart from his black face, belly and wings and brown tail. The conical bill is thick and black. He displays prominently, singing high-pitched twitters from tall grass, puffing out his feathers or performing a slow hovering display flight. The non-breeding male is yellow-brown, streaked above and shading to whitish below. It has a whitish supercilium. It resembles non-breeding male northern red bishop, but is darker and has black wings. Females are similar, but paler.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Nigel Voaden, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by

Northern Red Bishop

Euplectes franciscanus

Small16 gGrassland

This short-tailed bishop is small in size, about 11 cm and weighing about 12-22 grams. The striking red-orange feathers are produced by pigments derived from compounds in their diet. Specifically, the yellow, orange, and red pigments originate from compounds called carotenoids, which are very diet-dependent. Lutein and two red fractions (R1 and R2) derived from lutein are the two dominating carotenoids that contribute to the bird's pigment in the wild. Northern red bishops held in captivity lack the R2 red fraction carotenoid from their diet.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Daniel S. Katz · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black-winged Red Bishop and Northern Red Bishop.