Quelea quelea
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea), also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small, seasonally nomadic, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is approximately 12 cm (4.7 in) long and weighs 15 to 26 g (0.53 to 0.92 oz).
It was named by Linnaeus in 1758, who considered it a bunting, but Ludwig Reichenbach assigned it in 1850 to the new genus Quelea. Non-breeding birds have light underparts, striped brown upper parts, yellow-edged flight feathers and a reddish bill. Breeding females attain a yellowish bill. Breeding males have a black (or rarely white) facial mask, surrounded by a purplish, pinkish, rusty or yellowish wash on the head and breast. The species avoids forests, deserts and colder areas such as those at high altitude and in southern South Africa. It constructs oval roofed nests woven from strips of grass hanging from thorny branches, sugar cane or reeds. It breeds in very large colonies.
The red-billed quelea feeds primarily on seeds of annual grasses, but also causes extensive damage to cereal crops. Therefore, it is sometimes called "Africa's feathered locust". The usual pest-control measures are spraying avicides or detonating fire-bombs in the enormous colonies during the night. Extensive control measures have been largely unsuccessful in limiting the quelea population. When food runs out, the species moves to locations of recent rainfall and plentiful grass seed; hence it exploits its food source very efficiently. 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. 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, creating an image of a rolling cloud. The conservation status of red-billed quelea is least concern according to the IUCN Red List. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 5 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 6 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 10 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Safaripark Beekse Bergen | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 2 | Warsaw Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Vogelpark Heiligenkirchen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | herpetarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 5 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-billed Quelea sighting in Meru National Park on a given day, based on 38 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 70th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Red-billed Quelea in Meru National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January and October–November, the lowest months. That is one of Meru National Park's wettest months, with about 190 mm of rain against almost none in July. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-billed Quelea sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
14th of 47
Of the 47 parks where we can rate Red-billed Quelea sightings, Meru National Park ranks 14th at about 20%. The best odds are in Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 50%), Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 50%) and Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Ploceidae
The closest relatives of the Red-billed Quelea that you can see in Meru National Park (family Ploceidae, Weavers and Allies) are White-headed Buffalo-Weaver (about 80%), Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver (about 70%) and Chestnut Weaver (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-billed Quelea is recorded against all the birds logged in Meru National Park (38 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.
