Black-Winged Bishop

The black-winged bishop, as it is known in Birds of the World and iNaturalist, is monotypic, that is, it has no subspecies. In Wikipedia it is called a black-winged red bishop and has two subspecies. It is the third bishop I've seen (the northern red bishop and yellow-crowned bishop being the other two) and I've just learned that it is in the weaver family (Ploceidae) in the genus Euplectes, which consists of the bishops and widowbirds. I saw several females in Kidepo Valley NP in northeastern Uganda in July 2025. 

Per Wikipedia, there are two ssp. I saw craspedopterus which is found in South Sudan, southwest Ethiopia, Uganda and west Kenya. The non-breeding male is yellow-brown, streaked above and shading to whitish below, with a white supercilium. It resembles a non-bredding male northern red bishop, but is darker and has black wings. Females are similar, but paler. The male is scarlet, other than the black face, belly, wings and brown tail. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.