Long-tailed Widowbird vs Southern Red Bishop

Long-tailed Widowbird

Euplectes progne

Small35 gGrassland

Long-tailed widowbirds exhibit distinct sexual dimorphism. Males and females exhibit differences in behaviour and morphological traits. Adult males are entirely black, including under their wing-coverts. Males' wing shoulders are orange red and their wing-coverts white. Their bills are bluish white. Males are known for their distinctly long tails, which contain twelve tail feathers. Of these twelve tail feathers, between six and eight are approximately half a metre (approximately 20 inches) long. Males have wingspans of approximately 127 to 147 mm (approximately 5 to 5.8 inches).

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Sunčana Bradley · CC BY 4.0

Southern Red Bishop

Euplectes orix

Small23 gGrassland

The southern red bishop is 10–11 centimetres long and has a thick conical bill. Breeding males are brightly coloured with red (occasionally orange) and black plumage. The forehead, face and throat are black and the rest of the head is red. The upperparts are red apart from the brown wings and tail. The upper breast and under tail-coverts are red while the lower breast and belly are black. The non-breeding male and female have streaky brown plumage, paler below. Females are smaller than the males. It has various twittering calls and a nasal contact call. The male has a buzzing song.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Mike Musgrave · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Long-tailed Widowbird and Southern Red Bishop.