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Cardinal Quelea (Quelea cardinalis)

Cardinal Quelea
Photo: Martin Grimm via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 — free for commercial reuse.

About the Cardinal Quelea

The cardinal quelea (Quelea cardinalis) is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is found in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The cardinal quelea is a small (about 10 centimetres or 3.9 inches long) sparrow-like bird with a short heavy black bill, that breeds in colonies. The male in breeding plumage has a red head extending onto the breast but not onto the streaked nape. The female has a yellowish face, brow stripes and throat. The non-breeding plumage of the male resembles that of the female, but retains some red on its head.

Source: Cardinal quelea on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA
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No audio on this page yet

We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 4 recordings for this species: 3 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.

As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.

Listed as recorded in Kenya, Zambia in the xeno-canto catalogue.

Other birds you can hear here

These are the birds recorded alongside it, not close relatives — the site holds no other member of its genus or family yet.