Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
quelea
bird species, Quelea quelea
Alternate titles: Quelea quelea, black-faced dioch, dioch, quelea finch, red-billed quelea, red-billed weaver
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History
quelea, (Quelea quelea), also called red-billed quelea, or dioch, small brownish bird of Africa, belonging to the songbird family Ploceidae (order Passeriformes). It occurs in such enormous numbers that it often destroys grain crops and, by roosting, breaks branches. Efforts to control quelea populations with poisons, napalm, pathogens, and electronic devices have had poor success; but dynamiting the dense colonies, which may contain more than two million pairs in less than 50 hectares (125 acres), has achieved local control.

red-billed quelea
Male (right) and female red-billed queleas (Quelea quelea).
© Johan Swanepoel/Shutterstock.com

red-billed quelea
A flock of red-billed queleas (Quelea quelea).
© 169169/Fotolia

View a flock of red-billed queleas at the Etosha National Park
A flock of red-billed queleas (Quelea quelea), Etosha National Park, Namibia.
© EcoView/FotoliaSee all videos for this article
Queleas breed in thorn-scrub country: every bush and tree for miles around may contain hundreds of their globular nests, which are built by the males (black-faced, with pinkish foreparts at that season). Each pair has two or three young, which within the year may wander hundreds of miles and breed in their turn. The “locust bird” plague has been the indirect and complicated result of human exploitation of marginal land for stock raising and of the large-scale cultivation of grains. Queleas are thought to be among the most populous bird species in the world.
Why they are significant
They can be devastating to rice and wheat fields forcing farmers to hire bird-scarers, substantially increasing the cost of production.
The average quelea bird eats around 10 grams of grain per day - roughly half its body weight - so a flock of two million can devour as much as 20 tons of grain in a single day.
.
bird species, Quelea quelea
Alternate titles: Quelea quelea, black-faced dioch, dioch, quelea finch, red-billed quelea, red-billed weaver
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History
quelea, (Quelea quelea), also called red-billed quelea, or dioch, small brownish bird of Africa, belonging to the songbird family Ploceidae (order Passeriformes). It occurs in such enormous numbers that it often destroys grain crops and, by roosting, breaks branches. Efforts to control quelea populations with poisons, napalm, pathogens, and electronic devices have had poor success; but dynamiting the dense colonies, which may contain more than two million pairs in less than 50 hectares (125 acres), has achieved local control.

red-billed quelea
Male (right) and female red-billed queleas (Quelea quelea).
© Johan Swanepoel/Shutterstock.com

red-billed quelea
A flock of red-billed queleas (Quelea quelea).
© 169169/Fotolia

View a flock of red-billed queleas at the Etosha National Park
A flock of red-billed queleas (Quelea quelea), Etosha National Park, Namibia.
© EcoView/FotoliaSee all videos for this article
Queleas breed in thorn-scrub country: every bush and tree for miles around may contain hundreds of their globular nests, which are built by the males (black-faced, with pinkish foreparts at that season). Each pair has two or three young, which within the year may wander hundreds of miles and breed in their turn. The “locust bird” plague has been the indirect and complicated result of human exploitation of marginal land for stock raising and of the large-scale cultivation of grains. Queleas are thought to be among the most populous bird species in the world.
Why they are significant
They can be devastating to rice and wheat fields forcing farmers to hire bird-scarers, substantially increasing the cost of production.
The average quelea bird eats around 10 grams of grain per day - roughly half its body weight - so a flock of two million can devour as much as 20 tons of grain in a single day.
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