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Red-billed quelea

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Red-billed Quelea
Flock of Red-billed Queleas
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Passeriformes
Family:
Ploceidae
Genus:
Quelea
Species:
Q. quelea
Binomial name
Quelea quelea
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea), also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small passerine bird of the Ploceidae family. It is found only in Africa.

There are more quelea than any other wild bird species in the world: they number over 1.5 billion.[1][note 1] Single colonies may have as many as 30 million.[2] Queleas can migrate as far as 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles).[3] Single flocks can destroy as much as 50 tons of grain a day.[4] Queleas have destroyed over US$22 million of grain in a single year.[5][note 2]

Males grow to a length of about 4.75 inches (12 cm) with a 1.75 inch (4.45 cm) tail and weigh 19.47 grams (0.69 oz). Females are a little smaller growing to about 4.60 inches (11.68 cm) with a 1.70 inch (4.32 cm) tail and weigh 18.34 grams (0.65 oz).[6][7]

Nests are built by the males and take about seven days to complete. Males defend the nest while building it and become very angry when something gets too close. After it is complete, females lay 3 to 7 eggs. Eggs hatch in about two weeks. Males continue to defend the nest after the eggs hatch.[6][8]

Footnotes

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  1. ↑ There are more chickens than quelea, but chickens are not wild.
  2. ↑ Damages from 1989

References

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  1. ↑ Sekercioglu, Cagan Hakki 2006. "Foreword". in Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott & David Christie (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. p48. ISBN 84-96553-06-X.
  2. ↑ Weaver Bird Natural History
  3. ↑ Wikelski, Martin; Kays, Roland W.; Kasdin, N. Jeremy; Thorup, Kasper; Smith, James A.; Swenson, George W. (January 8, 2007). "Going wild: what a global small-animal tracking system could do for experimental biologists". Journal of Experimental Biology. 210 (2). The Company of Biologists: 181–186. doi:10.1242/jeb.02629. PMID 17210955. S2CID 8073226. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  4. ↑ Pimentel, David (2002). Encyclopedia of pest management. Dekker agropedia collection. Vol. 1. CRC Press. p. 98. ISBN 0824706323.
  5. ↑ "Human-wildlife conflict in Africa" (PDF). International Foundation for the Conservation of Wildlife. February 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Stark, Arthur Cowell; William Lutley Sclater (1900). The birds of South Africa. The Birds of South Africa. Vol. 1. R.H. Porter. pp. 122–124.
  7. ↑ Mundy, Peter J.; M. J. F. Jarvis (1989). Africa's feathered locust (illustrated ed.). Baobab Books. p. 59. ISBN 0908311028.
  8. ↑ Dale, James (Nov 7, 2000). "Ornamental plumage does not signal male quality in red-billed queleas". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 267 (1458). The Royal Society: 2143–2149. doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1261. PMC 1690802. PMID 11413625.

Other websites

[change | change source]
Wikimedia Commons For more multimedia, go to Category:Quelea quelea.
Wikispecies Wikispecies has an entry on: Quelea quelea
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