Cardinal Quelea
Quelea cardinalis
The red head of the breeding male is distinctive. Non-breeding male and female are nondescript streaky brown birds with buffy eyebrows. Found in moist, grassy habitats, where it often appears after recent rain. Most records are of territorial breeding males. Becomes inconspicuous when not breeding, mixing with flocks of other weavers and seedeaters. The call is a rough “chyet” and the song is an accelerating series of annoyed-sounding notes. Breeding male very similar to breeding male Red-headed Quelea, but has less red on the nape and more on the breast, for a more cleanly “hooded” look.
Identification
The cardinal quelea is a small (about 10 centimetres or 3.9 inches long) sparrow-like bird with a short heavy black bill, that breeds in colonies. The male in breeding plumage has a red head extending onto the breast but not onto the streaked nape. The female has a yellowish face, brow stripes and throat. The non-breeding plumage of the male resembles that of the female, but retains some red on its head.
Taxonomy
Gustav Hartlaub was the first to describe the cardinal quelea, giving it the scientific name Hyphantica cardinalis in 1880, based on specimens that were collected by Emin Pasha near Lado in South-Sudan during 1879. In 1951, Hans von Boetticher regarded the cardinal quelea and red-headed quelea sufficiently different from the red-billed quelea to create a new genus Queleopsis. Its name in Swahili is kwelea kidari-chekundu.<p>Based on recent DNA-analysis, the red-headed quelea forms a clade with the cardinal quelea, and this clade is sister to the red-billed quelea Q. quelea. The genus Quelea belongs to the group of true weavers (subfamily Ploceinae), and is most related to Foudia, a genus of six or seven species that occur on the islands of the western Indian Ocean. This clade is sister to the Asian species of the genus Ploceus. The following tree represents current insights in the relationships between the species of Quelea, and their closest relatives.
- Scientific name
- Quelea cardinalis
- Authority
- (Hartlaub, 1880)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Ploceidae
- Genus
- Quelea
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
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