Bird Guide

White-winged Widowbird vs Yellow Bishop

White-winged Widowbird (Euplectes albonotatus)

White-winged Widowbird

Euplectes albonotatus

Small21 gGrassland

The white-winged widowbird is 15 to 19 cm (5.9–7.5 in) in length and about 23 g (0.81 oz) in weight. The male is the only short-tailed widowbird in its region with white on its coverts. The breeding male is distinguished from the yellow-mantled widowbird by its shorter tail, wing color, lack of yellow on its back, and paler bill. Females are pale below.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Albertus Horn · CC BY 4.0
Yellow Bishop (Euplectes capensis)

Yellow Bishop

Euplectes capensis

Small31 gGrassland

The yellow bishop is a stocky 15 centimetres (5.9 in) long bird. The breeding male is black apart from his bright yellow lower back, rump, and shoulder patches, and brown edging to the wing feathers. He has a short crest, thick conical black bill, and a relatively short tail. His bill size varies dramatically between races. In non-breeding plumage, the black plumage is replaced by heavily streaked buffy-brown, and the bill is pale. The yellow shoulders and rump remain, and are a distinction from the female which lacks the contrasting colour patches. Voice: Calls include zeet zeet zeet, and a harsh zzzzzzt given by the male in flight. The song of the isolated SW Cameroon phoenicomerus is quite different: a dry rattle followed by swit-err, swit-err.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Yellow Bishop
Recorded by paulo kivuyo · Call · kikatiti, Meru, Arusha Region, Tanzania · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Shaun Swanepoel · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: White-winged Widowbird and Yellow Bishop.