The red-billed quelea is a small, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to Sub-Saharan Africa. The species avoids forests, deserts and colder areas such as those at high altitude and in southern South Africa. It feeds in huge flocks of millions of individuals, with birds that run out of food at the rear flying over the entire group to a fresh feeding zone at the front.
About Red-billed quelea in brief
The red-billed quelea is a small, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It was named by Linnaeus in 1758, who considered it a bunting, but Ludwig Reichenbach assigned it in 1850 to the new genus Quelea. The species avoids forests, deserts and colder areas such as those at high altitude and in southern South Africa. When food runs out, the species migrates to locations of recent rainfall and plentiful grass seed. It feeds in huge flocks of millions of individuals, with birds that run out of food at the rear flying over the entire group to a fresh feeding zone at the front. It is regarded as the most numerous undomesticated bird on earth, with the total post-breeding population sometimes peaking at an estimated 1.5 billion individuals. Three subspecies are recognised, with Queleo queleo occurring roughly from Senegal to Chad, Q.q.aethiopica from Sudan to Somalia and Tanzania, and Q. q.lathamii from Gabon to Mozambique andSouth Africa. The conservation status of red- billed queLEa is least concern according to the IUCN Red List. In the field, these are distinguished by the plumage in male breeding plumage and more grey plumage of non-breeding populations of wetter habitats of northeastern South Africa, Swaziland and southern Mozambiqua. However, further analysis indicated no clear distinction between it and Qquea spoliator was described by Phillip Clancey in 1960 on the basis of plumage differences in male and female breeding plumages.
The birds have light underparts, striped brown upper parts, yellow-edged flight feathers and a reddish bill. Breeding females attain a yellowish bill and males have a black facial mask, surrounded by a purplish, pinkish, rusty or yellowish wash on the head and breast. The queleA feeds primarily on seeds of annual grasses, but also causes extensive damage to cereal crops. The usual pest-control measures are spraying avicides or detonating fire-bombs in the enormous colonies during the night. It constructs oval roofed nests woven from strips of grass hanging from thorny branches, sugar cane or reeds. It breeds in very large colonies and is sometimes called “Africa’s feathered locust” The species is thought to have originated from Senegal, where it had been collected by Michel Adanson during his 1748-1752 expedition. In 1766, George Edwards illustrated the species in colour, based on a live male specimen owned by a Mrs Clayton in Surrey. He called it the “Brazilian sparrow”, despite being unsure whether it came from Brazil or Angola. In 1850, Ludwig Reichbach thought the species was not a true bunting but a weaver, as well as the new combination of Qlea and Qavera.
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This page is based on the article Red-billed quelea published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 20, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
