Northern Red Bishop

On May 31, 2014 Judy and I were in Elmina, Ghana with my cousin Russell and his wife Shelley. A red and black bird exploded into my vision from the green bushes ahead of the car and I told Russ to stop, I needed a photo of that bird (it turned out to be a poor photo). That northern red bishop was the most colorful bird I'd ever seen. 

Eleven years later we were in Murchison Falls NP and later Kidepo Valley NP in Uganda and I had seen a lot more birds in the interim, but I was still shocked by the color of the many northern red bishops we saw that stood out a mile away. 

This northern red bishop was seen in Murchison Falls NP.

This and the next were taken in Kidepo Valley NP. 

It is also known as an orange bishop and photos on both Wikipedia and Birds of the World show orange plumage where my photos show red. It is bright red with contrasting black plumage in breeding males. Females and non-breeding males have a brown and white feather pattern similar to a song sparrow. There is a southern red bishop, a separate species, which has a black chin and black which does not extend as far back on the crown. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. We didn't see any females, or at least our guide did not point any out. We would not have connected the male and female on our own. 

Range map from Birds of the World.