[njlarsen]

Dear all,
I initially thought this was another Red Bishop, but the strong rear super made me doubt that. Any takers?

thanks
Niels

[foresttwitcher]

Have you considered female Red-collared Widow - lack of streaking on underparts, dark crown & slightly longer tail with black sides?

[njlarsen]

I am considering it now, but at least in the birdforum gallery, there are only images of males ...

Additionally, the habitat sounds a bit different when reading the account in the Sinclair field guide

Niels

[Tib78]

I think FT may well be right with Red-collared widowbird. Super looks too broad, especially behind the eye, for a Red Bishop. Difficult to assess the bird seize though...but the relatively short tail (not very short!) looks ok.

[njlarsen]

Thank you Tib. In another part of the image is a White-fronted Bee-eater, and even though that is closer than this bird, the comparison still makes me believe this is one of the larger species.

Niels

[njlarsen]

And here should be the size comparison

Niels

[cossypha]

Hi

A useful tip I learned for differentiating Red Bishop from most other euplectes species: See how far the tail feathers extend past the undertail coverts? On a Bishop, the undertail coverts extend almost as far as the tail tip. Therefore your bird is not a Red Bishop, but unfortunately I can't tell you what it IS!
I feel it might me Red-collared, but unsure how to rule out White-tinged Widow.

Hope this helps somewhat

[Dave Kennedy]

Here is a copy of my response to a post from Sal on the Southern African Forum....

Wow! It's never easy to compare a single photo giving only one aspect with a picture in a book, but I would favour one of the widowbirds. On balance, but, to misquote the Duke of Wellington, it is a damn'd close-run thing - I would favour Red-collared Widowbird (f). But don't hold it against me!
Best wishes,
Dave

[njlarsen]

Thank you all,
It seems that everyone are leaning the same way. I do not believe it is White-winged, i have different photos of that one, and there seems to be enough differences that I don't think this one would be that.

Niels