Mystery Bird: Yellow Bishop, Euplectes capensis

This time, I have no idea what this bird is.

However, I think I can manage to narrow the field a bit. That's a pretty hefty bill. Probably a fringillid, emberizid, or, since we're in Africa, estrildid, ploceid or passerid.
Although some of the larks have pretty strong bills.

The bill shows a distinct angle to the lower mandible. Here in the US, that makes me look for a cardinalid, but over there, not really sure.

The body is small (or that's one really impressive blade of grass), and the tail looks short. In fact, the structure reminds me of the Orange Bishops Grrl fooled so many of us with last year. So I think I'm going to guess that this is a ploceid, commonly known as weavers. No guess to species though.

For anyone who does know the species, I have a question. Is that limited yellow on the back and sides a typical feature of the plumage, or is this the beginnning of a molt into an alternate or definitive plumage?

Hi Paul,

Can't wait to get home to see this one (and to beat the incoming 18" snow!)... off the top of my head, if this is indeed a weaver, it kinda sounds like the Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) which is extremely variable across Africa but I have seen breeding males varying between the traditional black and brown head through olive head to having a yellow crown and nape- I think all subspecies, non-breeding or breeding show certain amounts of black and yellow in the wings and varying amounts of yellow or whitish underparts... the two common names, Black-headed or Spotted-back reflect the variation between populations north and south...

I recently contributed some comments (plus research) to Ed Yong's blog with reference to the Cape Weaver, Village Weaver, and the Spectacled Weaver which might be helpful, or not!

Yes Paul, I'm sure we are looking at an ecclesiastical connection here. I think you should look further along the spectrum for the answer though.

Looks like a Euplectes sp. to me. Those long upper tail coverts have got to be a clue, as to what, though, I'm clueless.

well, I had been thinking the bishops, and going with carel's comment, I see the E. franciscana has "long upper tail-coverts, extending tip to tail"...Williams Birds of East Africa. And many of the bishop female's or juvis are described as "sparrow like, best identified associated with adult". Also E. afer and E diademata have yellow backs, I don't know how you describe the way they're all fluffy there in the picture, but both adults have that fluffy feature to the yellow, so maybe this is a young male....but that bit of yellow on the shoulder might suggest E. capensis? I will be non-committal and agree that it is Euplectes. I enjoy dragging out my old field guides of Africa...

David, I think you will find the yellow shoulders are a diagnostic feature of this species, hence its common name.

Well, I'm pretty sure of this one...

Paul, the "yellow on the back" is actually the slightly dishevelled but characteristic yellow rump which would normally be totally obscured by the wings at rest- the yellow on the shoulders is the second distinguishing feature of a non-breeding male Yellow Bishop, Euplectes capensis... in addition, the streaked brown on the back, lighter underparts with a suggestion of more streaking along the flanks would seem to fit...

if this were a female or juvenile, the yellow of the rump would not be as bright...

had we been unable to see the yellow rump, the lack of white on the primary coverts would have eliminated the non-breeding White-winged Widow (Euplectes albonotatus) and again, if the yellow rump had not been visible, the shortness of the tail would be the main differentiator between this species and the virtually identical non-breeding male Yellow-backed Widow (Euplectes macrourus) but in this case the tail is much shorter than usual because it is in mid-moult which is not surprising as this species (at least in South Africa) starts breeding after the winter rains, from August-November, with moult starting in early December... but key here is that the duration of the moult is relatively long as compared to other Euplectes species, at 3 to 4 months (and it takes an average of about 3 weeks to regrow each primary, again, much longer than other species)...

I am assuming the the bicolor bill is also reflective of the moulting season transition where it would normally be completely black when breeding and completely pinkish when not.

Oschadleus, H.D. and Underhill, L.G. (2006) Breeding seasonality and primary moult parameters of Euplectes species in South Africa Ostrich: The Journal of African Ornithology, 77(3S4): 142-152

Hey Adrian, I didn't see your comment as I was composing mine- actually, I think the combination of yellow rump and yellow shoulders is key- both the White-winged Bishop and Yellow-backed Widow non-breeding males show yellow shoulders too

and I'm going to say that the grass is certainly from the family Poacea, characterized by alternate leaves with extended blades, clasping sheaths, and parallel venation, and then hazard a guess that it may be either Rottboellia exaltata (syn. cochinensis), or Pennisetum purpureum, both strongly associated with weaver birds

Nice analysis, guys. Thanks.

Hi David, yes you're right, I forgot to add "and rump" to my post. My "Kenya" book also says that this is the "crassirostris" subspecies of Yellow Bishop.