Red-headed quelea Red-headed quelea The red-headed quelea ("Quelea erythrops") is a species of bird in the Ploceidae family. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The red-headed quelea was collected by Carl Weiss on Sao Tome island in 1847, and after its arrival at the Hamburg Museum described for
Red-billed quelea Sometimes called "Africa's feathered locust", the red-billed quelea is considered a serious agricultural pest in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, they eat wheat in the dry season, rice in the early rainy season, and sorghum/millet in the rainy season. An individual red-billed quelea eats around of grain in a day, hence a flock of 2 million individuals—not an unusual size—can consume of grain in a day, or in a month. Their wide range, enormous population and fecundity make control difficult. Traditional methods to protect crops are mainly used in subsistence farming. When the crop is vulnerable, people go into the fields,