Euplectes hordeaceus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The black-winged red bishop (Euplectes hordeaceus), formerly known in southern Africa as the fire-crowned bishop, is a resident breeding bird species in tropical Africa from Senegal to Sudan and south to Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
The black-winged red bishop was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia hordeacea. Linnaeus mistakenly specified the type location as India but this has been corrected to Senegal. The specific epithet hordeaceus is Latin meaning "of barley" from hordeum meaning "barley". The black-winged red bishop is now one of 18 species in the genus Euplectes that was introduced in 1829 by the English naturalist William Swainson.
Two subspecies are recognised: The black-winged red bishop is a stocky 13–15 cm (5.1–5.9 in) bird. The breeding male is scarlet apart from his black face, belly... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 6 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 7 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 10 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 11 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 12 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 13 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 14 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 15 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kumasi | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 2 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 4 | Doha | 🇶🇦 Qatar | |
| 5 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 6 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden | 🇭🇺 Hungary |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-winged Bishop sighting in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 214th most-seen of the 272 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-winged Bishop in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February, April and July–December, the lowest months. That is one of Mkomazi National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 150 mm in December. May has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-winged 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.
Among the best
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Black-winged Bishop sightings, Mkomazi National Park ranks 4th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 10%), Lake Manyara National Park (Tanzania, about 10%) and Mikumi National Park (Tanzania, about 10%).
Same genus: Euplectes
The closest relatives of the Black-winged Bishop that you can see in Mkomazi National Park (genus Euplectes, Bishops and Widowbirds) are White-winged Widowbird (about 30%), Zanzibar Bishop (about 20%) and Yellow-rumped Widowbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-winged Bishop is recorded against all the birds logged in Mkomazi National Park (9 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.
