Yellow-crowned bishop

Description:

The Yellow-crowned Bishop (Euplectes afer) is a species of passerine bird in the family Ploceidae native to Africa south of the Sahara.[2] It is highly sexually dimorphic in its breeding season, during which the male adopts a distinctive yellow and black plumage, contrasting with the female's predominantly brown coloration. Three subspecies are recognised.

Habitat:

Occurs in isolated patches across sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to southern Sudan yet absent from the DRC, south to southern Africa. Here it is locally common in the eastern half of South Africa, with more localised populations in northern Namibia, northern and south-eastern Botswana and Zimbabwe. In the breeding season it mainly occupies marshes or seasonally flooded areas, but when isn't breeding it can move into dry habitats such as cultivated areas.

Notes:

Polygynous, colonial breeder, living in small colonies, each with one male who controls about 2-3 nests and multiple females. Males defend their territory and attract females by fluffing out their yellow back feathers and calling, sometimes performing display flights while doing so (see images below). The male builds a ball-shaped nest with a side-top entrance, made of woven grass-strips and, if accepted by the female, she lines the interior with grass seedheads. It is typically suspended between grass stems over water, incorporating the tips of the grass stems into the roof, concealing the entrance. Egg-laying season is from November-May, peaking from December-March. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 12-14 days (recorded in captivity). The chicks are fed by the female only, leaving the nest after approximately 11-13 days and becoming independent roughly 5 weeks later.