page_title: Red-billed quelea
section_title: Feeding
hierarchical_section_title: Red-billed quelea / Ecology and behaviour / Feeding
caption_attribution_description: Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea
context_page_description: The red-billed quelea, also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small—approximately 12 cm long and weighing 15–26 g —migratory, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to Sub-Saharan Africa.
  It was named by Linnaeus in 1758, who considered it a bunting, but Ludwig Reichenbach assigned it in 1850 to the new genus Quelea. Three subspecies are recognised, with Quelea quelea quelea occurring roughly from Senegal to Chad, Q. q. aethiopica from Sudan to Somalia and Tanzania, and Q. q. lathamii from Gabon to Mozambique and South Africa. Non-breeding birds have light underparts, striped brown upper parts, yellow-edged flight feathers and a reddish bill. Breeding females attain a yellowish bill. Breeding males have a black facial mask, surrounded by a purplish, pinkish, rusty or yellowish wash on the head and breast. The species avoids forests, deserts and colder areas such as those at high altitude and in southern South Africa. It constructs oval roofed nests woven from strips of grass hanging from thorny branches, sugar cane or reeds. It breeds in very large colonies.
context_section_description: Flocks of red-billed queleas usually feed on the ground, with birds in the rear constantly leap-frogging those in the front to exploit the next strip of fallen seeds. This behaviour creates the impression of a rolling cloud, and enables efficient exploitation of the available food. The birds also take seeds from the grass ears directly. They prefer grains of 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) in size. Red-billed queleas feed mainly on seeds from a wide range of species, including annual grasses of the genera Echinochloa, Panicum, Setaria, Sorghum, Tetrapogon and Urochloa.
  One survey at Lake Chad showed that two thirds of the seeds eaten belonged to only three species: African wild rice (Oryza barthii), Sorghum purpureosericeum and jungle rice (Echinochloa colona). When the supply of these seeds runs out, seeds of cereals such as barley (Hordeum disticum), teff (Eragrostis tef), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), manna (Setaria italica), millet (Panicum miliaceum), rice (Oryza sativa), wheat (Triticum), oats (Avena aestiva), as well as buckwheat (Phagopyrum esculentum) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus) are eaten on a large scale. Red-billed queleas have also been observed feeding on crushed corn from cattle feedlots, but entire maize kernels are too big for them to swallow. A single bird may eat about 15 g (0.53 oz) in seeds each day. As much as half of the diet of nestlings consists of insects, such as grasshoppers, ants, beetles, bugs, caterpillars, flies and termites, as well as snails and spiders.
  Insects are generally eaten during the breeding season, though winged termites are eaten at other times. Breeding females consume snail-shell fragments and calcareous grit, presumably to enable egg-shell formation. One colony in Namibia, of an estimated five million adults and five million chicks, was calculated to consume roughly 13 t (29,000 lb) of insects and 1,000 t (2,200,000 lb) of grass seeds during its breeding cycle. At sunrise they form flocks that co-operate to find food. After a successful search, they settle to feed. In the heat of the day, they rest in the shade, preferably near water, and preen. Birds seem to prefer drinking at least twice a day. In the evening, they once again fly off in search of food.
caption: Resting in the branches during the day
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