Golden-backed Bishop
Euplectes aureus
A small, short-tailed, huge-billed bishop. Breeding males are beautiful birds, mostly black with a yellow-orange back. Females and non-breeding males are brown and streaky with a yellow wash on the face. Found in grassland, overgrown cultivation, and open savanna. Endemic to Angola, but introduced on Sao Tome. Breeding males are unmistakable. Non-breeding males and females are very similar to other bishops, but are smaller, heavier-billed, and have more yellow on the face. The song is a series of emphatic buzzing notes.
Taxonomy
he golden-backed bishop was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the crossbills in the genus Loxia and coined the binomial name Loxia aurea. The specific epithet is Latin for "golden". Gmelin based his account on the "Golden-backed finch" from Angola that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the English naturalist Peter Brown. The golden-backed bishop is now one of 18 species placed in the genus Euplectes that was introduced in 1829 by the English naturalist William John Swainson. It is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Euplectes aureus
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Ploceidae
- Genus
- Euplectes
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Large pigeon of marshy savannas, riversides, open areas with scattered trees, locally even in towns, such as Villahermosa, Mexico. Gray head contrasts with pinkish body, and whitish belly does not contrast strongly with plain grayish tail; compare darker Red-billed Pigeon, which often occurs in same areas but prefers drier and more forested habitats. Also note black bill of Pale-vented, and subtly distinctive song: after long introductory coo, repeated phrase is typically a 3-syllable "who’koo-koo", unlike 4-syllable "oo’koo-koo-koo" of Red-billed.
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Tiny short-tailed ground-dweller, restricted to foothill and montane forests on Java. Favors areas with dense, tangled undergrowth, in which it bounces around actively. Olive-brown with a gray head and chest. Black line through the eye gives this little bird a strongly “eyebrowed” appearance. Due to size and dense habitat, this tiny warbler can be difficult to track down; listen for its song, a tumbling, jumbled series of beautiful high-pitched notes. Also note call, a dry rattling trill.
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Larvivora akahige
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