Black Bishop
Encyclopedia
The Black Bishop is a species of passerine
bird
in the Ploceidae family native to Africa
south of the Sahara
. Three subspecies are recognised.
Jean Cabanis
in 1880 and named after H. Gierow, a Swedish explorer and collector in Angola. It is sometimes placed with E. aureus and E. hordeaceus in a separate genus, Groteiplectes.
A study of the molecular phylogeny
of bishops
and widowbirds published in 2008 found that it formed part of a clade
along with the Fire-fronted Bishop
(E. diadematus), Black-winged Red Bishop
(E. hordeaceus), Northern Red Bishop
(E. franciscanus), Southern Red Bishop
(E. orix), Zanzibar Red Bishop (E. nigroventris) and Red-collared Widowbird
(E. ardens). An alternate common name is Gierow's Bishop.
is brown. Females are dark, including the sides of the face, have boldly spotted under tail-coverts, and dark spots on a buff breast. The female's wing linings are black. The non-breeding male is black on the back, wings and rump, with yellowish supercilia
and chin; the sides of face and breast are tawny buff. The juvenile resembles the female but has smaller breast spots. The calls comprise various subdued twittering sounds, including see-zee see-zee see-zhe see-zhe SEE-ZHEE, zee-zee-zeezee-zee, and hishaah, hishaah, SHAAAAAAH, tsee-tseet-tseet-tseet.
, Cameroon
, Central African Republic
, Republic of the Congo
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
, Ethiopia
, Kenya
, Sudan
, Tanzania
, and Uganda
. Its preferred habitats are grasslands, shrublands, and wetlands.
. The male defends the territory during breeding season.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the Ploceidae family native to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
south of the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
. Three subspecies are recognised.
Taxonomy
The Black Bishop was first described by the German ornithologistOrnithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
Jean Cabanis
Jean Cabanis
Jean Louis Cabanis was a German ornithologist.Cabanis was born in Berlin. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1835 to 1839, and then travelled to North America, returning in 1841 with a large natural history collection. He was assistant and later director of the Berlin University Museum,...
in 1880 and named after H. Gierow, a Swedish explorer and collector in Angola. It is sometimes placed with E. aureus and E. hordeaceus in a separate genus, Groteiplectes.
A study of the molecular phylogeny
Phylogenetics
In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices...
of bishops
Euplectes
Euplectes is a genus of passerine bird in the weaver family, Ploceidae. It contains the bishops and widowbirds. They are all native to Africa south of the Sahara...
and widowbirds published in 2008 found that it formed part of a clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
along with the Fire-fronted Bishop
Fire-fronted Bishop
The Fire-fronted Bishop is a species of bird in the Ploceidae family.It is found in Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 25 July 2007....
(E. diadematus), Black-winged Red Bishop
Black-winged Red Bishop
The Black-winged Red Bishop is a resident breeding bird species in tropical Africa from Senegal to Sudan and south to Angola and Tanzania....
(E. hordeaceus), Northern Red Bishop
Northern Red Bishop
The Northern Red Bishop or Orange Bishop is a resident breeding bird species in Africa south of the Sahara Desert and north of the Equator. It has been introduced to Puerto Rico, Martinique and Guadeloupe in the West Indies. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the Southern Red Bishop of...
(E. franciscanus), Southern Red Bishop
Southern Red Bishop
The Southern Red Bishop or Red Bishop is a small passerine bird belonging to the bishop and widowbird genus Euplectes in the weaver family 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...
(E. orix), Zanzibar Red Bishop (E. nigroventris) and Red-collared Widowbird
Red-collared Widowbird
The Red-collared Widowbird is a species of bird in the Ploceidae family.It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,...
(E. ardens). An alternate common name is Gierow's Bishop.
Subspecies
Three subspecies of the Black Bishop are now recognized.- E. g. ansorgei (E. HartertErnst HartertErnst Johann Otto Hartert was a German ornithologist. Hartert was born in Hamburg. He was employed by Lionel Walter Rothschild as ornithological curator of his private museum at Tring from 1892 to 1929....
, 1899), or Northern Black Bishop, inhabits Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya — especially around Lake Victoria basin and Kakamega. This subspecies is named after its discoverer Dr. W. J. Ansorge. - E. g. gierowii Cabanis, 1880, known as the Angola Black Bishop, inhabits Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- E. g. friederichseni Fischer and A. ReichenowAnton ReichenowAnton Reichenow was a German ornithologist.Reichenow was the son-in-law of Jean Cabanis, and worked at the Humboldt Museum from 1874 to 1921. He was an expert on African birds, making a collecting expedition to West Africa in 1872 and 1873, and writing Die Vögel Afrikas...
, 1884, or Southern Black Bishop, inhabits Kenya and Tanzania around Babati, and sporadically to Lake Manyara and Serengeti National ParkSerengeti National ParkThe Serengeti National Park is a large national park in Serengeti area, Tanzania. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one and a half million white bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra...
; possibly along Southern Uaso Nyiro River.
Description
At 14 to 16 cm (5.5 to 6.3 in), the Black Bishop is large for its genus. The breeding male is black on the wings, tail, chest, cheeks and forehead. The neck, back of the head and breast band) are orange or orange-red. The under tail-coverts are pale buff with black streaks, and the upper back is yellow or orange-yellow in subspecies ansorgei, and orange in friederichseni. The throat is scarlet in the nominate subspecies and black in ansorgei. The subspecies friederichseni has the undertail coverts isabelline. The upper back is golden yellow and the rump is brown. The conical bill, characteristic of finches, is black and the tarsusTarsus (skeleton)
In tetrapods, the tarsus is a cluster of articulating bones in each foot situated between the lower end of tibia and fibula of the lower leg and the metatarsus. In the foot the tarsus articulates with the bones of the metatarsus, which in turn articulate with the bones of the individual toes...
is brown. Females are dark, including the sides of the face, have boldly spotted under tail-coverts, and dark spots on a buff breast. The female's wing linings are black. The non-breeding male is black on the back, wings and rump, with yellowish supercilia
Supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head. Also known as an "eyebrow", it is distinct from the eyestripe, which is a line which runs...
and chin; the sides of face and breast are tawny buff. The juvenile resembles the female but has smaller breast spots. The calls comprise various subdued twittering sounds, including see-zee see-zee see-zhe see-zhe SEE-ZHEE, zee-zee-zeezee-zee, and hishaah, hishaah, SHAAAAAAH, tsee-tseet-tseet-tseet.
Distribution and habitat
The Black Bishop is native to AngolaAngola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
, Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, and Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. Its preferred habitats are grasslands, shrublands, and wetlands.
Behaviour
The Black Bishop can sometimes be found in small flocks, but is not a highly gregarious species, especially when nesting. It is probably polygynousPolygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
. The male defends the territory during breeding season.