📸 PhotoPhoto: New Jersey Birds · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Red-billed Quelea
Quelea quelea (Red-billed Quelea · コウヨウチョウ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 According to the FAO, a single bird eats up to 10 g of grain a day (slightly heavier than a single Korean 500-won coin, Comparison), and a flock of 2 million birds devours about 20 tons a day.
- 💡 The FAO reports that sorghum, millet, rice, and wheat fields can be devastated in a matter of hours, with total annual grain losses across Africa reaching about $88.6 million.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Red-billed Quelea is a small passerine weaver living in sub-Saharan Africa, famous for forming single flocks of millions of birds. Its estimated population is about 1.5 billion.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Each individual is a small bird, and males acquire breeding plumage during the breeding season.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds mainly on grain and grass seeds supplemented with insects, wandering in search of rain and food. Males build a nest alone in 2–3 days, and breeding colonies can reach several kilometers across.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22719128/132125738
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 132125738
- • wikidata.org — Q367327
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Quelea quelea -Limpopo, South Africa-8.jpg
- • biodiversityexplorer.info — quelea quelea.htm
- • fao.org — en
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · Public Domain Mark 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Ploceidae)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.