Red-billed Quelea

Description:
Size: 15 to 13 cm (4 to 5 in)
Body: golden-brown with dark brown markings. Face: chocolate brown. Beak: red. There is a red rim around the eye. Legs: pinky-brown. The plumage of the cock bird turns dull after the breeding season.
Has a pale yellow beak.

In this study, various alternative control methods were evaluated. These methods included

(a) lethal control methods (chemical and explosives) and (b) displacing the birds with

repellents or by destroying their habitats. For roosting and breeding, quelea preferred to use areas

of the common reed Phragmites australis. Potential breeding sites were destroyed by cutting

the reeds using hand implements only, or mechanically by using tractors and brushing

equipment. For the manual cutting, trials of both single-handed cutting and working in

groups were conducted. The mechanical control was repeated at four different farms. In

all cases, the time taken, manpower needed and type of equipment used, were recorded.

The running cost and labour costs of the four different farmers were compared using

local financial norms. The methods used for repelling birds included canons, physical and

mechanical means, and bird X-pellers.

Because the start of the rainy season and amount of rainfall varies annually across the quelea’s African habitat, forecasting where colonies will roost and breed and what areas they will select as foraging sites is exceptionally difficult. To help control quelea populations, and to guide the use of pesticides, researchers have developed short-term forecasting models that take into account the location and size of seasonal quelea populations, as well as current and recent rainfall. The models compare this information to data from previous years then predict the threat level of quelea infestation in specific areas. A major limitation of these models, however, is reliable data collection and reporting for seasonal location and size of roosting and breeding colonies.

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Red-billed Quelea is an extremely small bird about half the size of a house sparrow. The height of the Red-billed Quelea is about 12 cms and its weight is about 20 gms

You will find that the male Red-billed Quelea plumage and colours are different to that of the female Red-billed Quelea

• Head is brown.
• Eye is red.
• Bill is brown.
• Throat is brown.
• Back is brown.
• Legs are pink.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Most control operations are focused on roosts of

non-breeding birds that threaten commercial grain

crops, especially wheat and rice grown under irrigation.

In such areas, rapid communication systems between

farmers and control teams, and efficient reporting

methods are already in place. Damage to subsistence

crops such as millet and sorghum, however, is caused by

juvenile birds that have fledged recently from breeding

colonies established in relatively inaccessible areas

remote from the croplands themselves and which consequently

remain unreported.

Food items

During the study year, across both ecological zones, queleas consumed some 30

types of wild grass seeds, all five cultivated cereals, 10 non-grass seed items, and insects,

primarily beetles and grasshoppers. Those food items,

comprising 1.0% or more of the yearly diets within each sampling zone, are presented