Yellow Bishop

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.