Bulletin 368 - Uganda #12 - Weavers - part 1

After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

We met some of the weaver species in South Africa. They were mostly yellow birds with varying amounts of black on the head and face. In Uganda I found more species and some were quite different than the previous ones.

The 4.5" Speckle-fronted Weaver (Sporopipes frontalis) is a brown and gray sparrow like bird with an ochre nape and black forehead.

Speckle-fronted Weaver

The 5" male Black-headed Weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus) had a black head and chestnut belly. He resembles our Baltimore Oriole.

Black-headed Weaver - pair

The 5" male Golden-backed Weaver (Ploceus jacksoni) is similar but the whole underside is a dark chestnut color.

Golden-backed Weaver - male

The 4" male Little Weaver (Ploceus luteolus)  is yellow with a black face and thick bill.

Little Weaver - male

A similar 4.5" weaver is the male Slender-billed Weaver (Ploceus pelzelni).He has a smaller amount of black on the face

Slender-billed Weaver - male

The 6.5" male Village Weaver (Ploceus culcullatus) is yellow with a black face and streaked back.. He also has a bright red eye!

Village Weaver - male

The 6" male Baglafecht Weaver (Ploceus bagalecht) has a black face and light eye.

Baglafecht Weaver

So now that you can easily identify a weaver by the yellow body and black head or face, God shows his sense of humor with the 5.5" male Black-billed Weaver (Ploceus melanogaster). He is all black with a yellow face!

Black-billed Weaver

And even stranger is Vieillot's Black Weaver (Ploceus nigerrimus). He is all black with a yellow eye.

Vieillot's Black Weaver

I have photos of 27 of the 117 species of weavers.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

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Bulletin 325 - South Africa #2 - Part 1 - Weavers, Bishops and Widowbirds; Croc and Hippo

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

As usual my birding luck was 100% and we saw almost every thing expected to be found and many that were not expected!

Weavers, widowbirds and bishops are part of a large family (113 species) of songbirds, all but 5 are in Africa and adjoining islands in the Indian Ocean. The bishops have been used as caged birds and some escapes are found in the USA. The weavers are most interesting, as the male is responsible for weaving a nest which is often quite intricate. Each species seems to have a different shape. He weaves the nest to attract a mate and often many nests are close together in the same tree. On one occasion, we saw many nests on the ground as the females did not like them and tore them down.

The 5" Lesser Masked Weaver (Ploceus intermedius) has just started to build his nest and it can be seen that he has actually tied knots on the branch to anchor his nest.

Lesser Masked Weaver - male

The 7" male Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis) is yellow with a reddish face .

Cape Weaver - male

The 6" male Eastern Golden Weaver (Ploceus subaureus) is also known as the Yellow Weaver. Here is his intricate spherical nest anchored on 2 reeds.

Eastern Golden Weaver - male
AKA Yellow Weaver

The 6" male Dark-backed Weaver (Ploceus bicolor) is black above and a black head with bright yellow below.

Dark-backed Weaver - male

The 6" male Spectacled Weaver (Ploceus ocularius) is yellow with a black throat and black line through his eye.

Spectacled Weaver - male

The 6" male Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) has a black mask and black streaking on his back. This one is busy with nest building.

Village Weaver - male

The 6" male Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) builds a nest with elongated entrance. This was the species where many nests had been thrown to the ground by disgruntled females.

Southern Masked Weaver - male

However the award for the most intricate nest goes to the 7" male Thick-billed Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons). The male is dark brown with lighter head and white spots above his bill.

Thick-billed Weaver - male

And here is one with his head sticking out the entrance hole of the nest he built. It is a work of art!

Thick-billed Weaver - male

The 9" male Red-billed Buffalo Weaver (Bubalornis niger) is all black with a bright red bill. These birds build a big stick nest containing up to a dozen apartments. They reminded of the bulky nests of the Monk Parakeets on power poles, we see here in USA.

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver - male

Continue to part 2