Red-billed Quelea: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Birds of Asia, Africa and Australia · day 2 of 7

Five facts

1. This little seed-eater is thought to be the most numerous wild bird on Earth. After breeding, its numbers may peak at about 1.5 billion.
2. A feeding flock looks like a rolling cloud: birds at the back keep hopping over those in front to reach the next patch of seeds.
3. The male weaves a ball-shaped nest from six to seven hundred strips of fresh grass. Once he has won a female, it can be finished in two days.
4. Its colonies can hold millions of nests. More than 6,000 nests have been counted in just one tree.
5. It breeds in a rush: the eggs hatch after nine or ten days, and the chicks leave the nest at about two weeks old.

The quiz

1. About how many red-billed queleas may there be after the breeding season?

• About 15,000
• About 2 million
• About 150
• About 1.5 billion (correct)

Its numbers may peak at an estimated 1.5 billion birds.

2. How does a flock move while it feeds?

• It stays still and waits for seeds to blow in
• Birds at the back hop over those in front (correct)
• Each bird feeds alone, far from the others
• It follows one leader in a single line

Birds at the rear keep leapfrogging the front, like a rolling cloud.

3. About how many grass strips go into one quelea nest?

• Six to seven hundred (correct)
• Five to ten
• About fifty
• Around ten thousand

Each nest uses about six to seven hundred fresh grass strips.

4. How many quelea nests have been counted in a single tree?

• About 10
• About 60
• More than 6,000 (correct)
• Just one

Over 6,000 nests have been counted in one tree.

5. How long do quelea eggs take to hatch?

• About two months
• Nine or ten days (correct)
• Six weeks
• One day

Incubation takes nine or ten days, one of the shortest cycles in birds.

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