Euplectes capensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The yellow bishop (Euplectes capensis), also known as Cape bishop, Cape widow or yellow-rumped widow, is a resident breeding Afromontane bird species. This common weaver occurs in less arid vegetated areas, such as fynbos, moist grassland and bracken-covered valleys at altitudes from sea level to the Ethiopian Highlands.
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the yellow bishop in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope. He used the French name Le pinçon du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Fringilla Capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the yellow bishop. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Loxia capensis and cited Brisson's work. The specific name capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope. This species is now placed in the genus Euplectes... Wikipedia →
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-rumped Widowbird sighting in Golden Gate Highlands National Park on a given day, based on 56 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 25th 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.
January
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-rumped Widowbird in Golden Gate Highlands National Park on a given day, against about 20% in July and August, the lowest months. That is one of Golden Gate Highlands National Park's wettest months, with about 130 mm of rain against 15 mm in June. March has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow-rumped Widowbird 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 30 parks where we can rate Yellow-rumped Widowbird sightings, Golden Gate Highlands National Park has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 40%) and De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Euplectes
The closest relatives of the Yellow-rumped Widowbird that you can see in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (genus Euplectes, Bishops and Widowbirds) are Red Bishop (about 50%), 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 Yellow-rumped Widowbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (56 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.
