---
title: "Red-billed Quelea"
description: "Quelea quelea — Birds. The red-billed quelea (; Quelea quelea), also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small, seasonally nomadic, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to sub-Saharan Africa."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/red-billed-quelea
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Red-billed Quelea

> Quelea quelea — Birds. The red-billed quelea (; Quelea quelea), also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small, seasonally nomadic, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to sub-Saharan Africa.

- Scientific name: *Quelea quelea*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Fields & meadows), `savanna` (Savanna)
- iNaturalist observations: 4222
- Wikidata: [Q367327](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q367327)
- iNaturalist taxon: [14005](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/14005)

## Names

- en: Red-billed Quelea
- de: Blutschnabelweber
- es: Quelea común
- fr: Travailleur à bec rouge
- nl: Roodbekwever
- pt: Tecelão-de-bico-vermelho
- pl: Wikłacz czerwonodzioby

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (1973), NA (311), KE (234), TZ (167), BW (156), SN (130), ZM (130), ZW (107), BJ (94), GM (92), UG (84), ET (76)

## Summary

The red-billed quelea (; Quelea quelea), also known as the red-billed weaver or red-billed dioch, is a small, seasonally nomadic, sparrow-like bird of the weaver family, Ploceidae, native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is approximately 12 cm (4.7 in) long and weighs 15 to 26 g (0.53 to 0.92 oz).
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 Q. q. 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…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-billed_quelea

## Photo

![Red-billed Quelea](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/red-billed-quelea/medium.jpg)

Photo: Diego Carús · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17938542

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/red-billed-quelea?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).