A Northern Red Bishop at Watson Lake

Finding colonies of exotic birds in the wild is a colorful part of the bird watching experience.  The rosy-faced lovebirds that populate many Phoenix neighborhoods are easy to find if you're listening for them; they seem to chirp incessantly unless they're eating.  And I vividly recall the flock of rose-ringed parakeets I photographed in a tree canopy over the canal in Zweibruecken, Germany several years ago.  Both of these colorful species are native to Africa and have managed to survive, if not thrive, in urban habitats around the globe.

So I was excited to find a new immigrant to the American landscape in the form of a northern red bishop at Watson Lake in Prescott last Monday.  This bird is also native to Africa and is as equally striking in appearance as the parrots.  But the bishop is not in their same family; instead it's in the large order of passerines - sometimes called songbirds - and is grouped more specifically with weavers.  These birds are known for their intricately woven and hanging nests, hence their name. 

When I spotted the bishop off the Peavine Trail it was in bursts of bright red flashing against the verdant plain between the woods and the reservoir.  It took some zoomed photographs to identify the distant bird as a northern red bishop.  But interestingly, you might have mistook it for another nest-weaving bird, the oriole.  Close-up, the bishop appears more yellow-orange with inky contrasts like most orioles.

There are established populations of northern red bishops in a few United States locations including Southern California and Houston.  But to the best of my knowledge there are none in Arizona.  Is Prescott's bishop a recently escaped cage bird?  Or is he a wayward member of a distant flock?  And are there more and will they stay?  Alas, it's unlikely northern Arizona's winter would offer a survivable climate.  But not far away, the southern half of the state might hold a more fertile eden for wandering tribes. 

Northern red bishop at Watson Lake in Prescott.

Northern red bishop at Watson Lake in Prescott.

Northern red bishop at Watson Lake in Prescott.