Euplectes orix
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The southern red bishop or red bishop (Euplectes orix) is a small passerine bird belonging to the bishop and widowbird genus Euplectes in the weaver family, the Ploceidae. It is common in wetlands and grassland in Africa south of the Equator. North of the Equator, it is replaced by the northern red bishop or orange bishop (E. franciscanus) which was formerly regarded as a subspecies of this species.
In 1751 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the southern red bishop in the fourth volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Grenadier". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a live bird kept at the home of George Shelvocke in Greenwich. Edwards was told that the bird had come from Angola. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the southern red bishop with the buntings in the genus Emberiza. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Emberiza orix and cited Edwards' work. The southern red bishop is now one of 17 species placed in the genus Euplectes that was introduced in 1829 by the English... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 4 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 5 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 7 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 8 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Lubango | 🇦🇴 Angola | |
| 10 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cheyenne Mountain Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Warsaw Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Temaikén | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Halls Gap Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Bloedel Conservatory | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | herpetarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 7 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 8 | Limburg Zoo | 🇧🇪 Belgium |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Red Bishop sighting in Golden Gate Highlands National Park on a given day, based on 58 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 19th most-seen of the 108 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Red Bishop in Golden Gate Highlands National Park on a given day, against about 30% in April–August and October, the lowest months. That is one of Golden Gate Highlands National Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain against 15 mm in June. March has too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red Bishop sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 32 parks where we can rate Red Bishop sightings, Golden Gate Highlands National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda, about 30%) and De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Euplectes
The closest relatives of the Red Bishop that you can see in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (genus Euplectes, Bishops and Widowbirds) are Yellow-rumped Widowbird (about 40%), Long-tailed Widow-bird (about 40%) and Red-collared Widowbird (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red Bishop is recorded against all the birds logged in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (58 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
