Fire-fronted Bishop Euplectes diadematus Scientific name definitions

10 cm; mean 14 g. Small bishop with rather short tail. Male breeding has large red patch on forehead with some black in centre; rest of head black, mantle mottled yellow and black, lower back to uppertail-coverts yellow; tail dusky grey-brown, rectrices with buff margins, upperwing dusky grey-brown with pale yellow feather edges; chin, throat, breast and belly black, thighs whitish, vent and undertail-coverts yellow; iris dark brown; bill black; legs pale brown. Male non-breeding has forehead, crown, nape and mantle brown with dark central streaks on feathers, wings and tail brown with pale yellowish edges on remiges; lores, cheek and ear-coverts brown, faintly streaked, pale buffy supercilium; chin, throat and breast buffish, belly, thighs and undertail-coverts dull white; iris brown, bill brown, legs pale brown. Female is like non-breeding male. Juvenile undescribed.

C, S & E Kenya, SE Somalia and NE Tanzania.

Open grassland and cultivated areas below 1000 m; also bushy coastal dunes, rice fields and temporarily flooded areas.

Described as nomadic or migratory, with movements related to rainfall. At Tsavo, in S Kenya, common Dec–Feb but seldom seen at other times; during drought recorded at Dar-es-Salaam, in E Tanzania.

Diet chiefly grass seeds such as those of Sporobolus and Echinochloa; in captivity, accepts seeds of Panicum, Paspalum, Chloris, Setaria and Hyparrhenium. During nesting, also takes termites (Isoptera) and spiders (Araneae). Forages in small groups; sometimes associates with other ploceids in flocks or at roosts.

Breeds Aug–Sept in Somalia; May–Jun, also Dec–Jan following rain, in Kenya. Probably polygynous; territorial, nesting solitarily or in colonies with up to twelve males. Male in perched display bobs up and down with fluffed plumage, flicking wings. Nest a rounded structure, entrance near top under a small porch, very loosely woven with grass stems and leaf blades, attached within 0·5 m of ground to grass or herbs in grass clump; female may contribute to building, continues lining with softer grass during incubation. Clutch 2–5 eggs, pale blue, lightly blotched and spotted with black, average size of ten eggs 16·5 x 12·5 mm (Kenya); in captivity, incubation by female, period 10–12 days, nestling period 11–12 days. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Locally common. Roosts containing more than 100 individuals in Somalia in Jul and Oct.