The weaver bird family

There are 117 living species in the weaver bird family (Ploceidae), excluding the sparrows of genus Passer, see species list here. The family is distributed through sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. It is a diverse group, illustrated by these extremes. The pest Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea has a population of about 1500 million birds, and may be the most numerous land-bird in the world. Contrast this with the rarest weaver, the threatened Mauritius Fody Foudia rubra, with 210-250 birds. The smallest weaver is the Zanzibar Red Bishop Euplectes nigroventris (wing of female 52-59 mm) while the largest is the Long-tailed Widow Euplectes progne (wing of male 124-158 mm). Many species are brightly coloured while the females and non-breeding males in other species are nondescript and difficult to identify. There are 15 genera of weavers, which could be divided into 3 groups of nest types as shown here.

Monitoring weavers

Monitoring weavers can be done by monitoring their breeding and their survival rates. Anyone can help with finding breeding nests and submitting photos to project PHOWN (Photos of Weaver Nests). Studying survival rates requires ringing weavers regularly in project SESAW (Survival Estimates in Southern African Weavers), and can only be undertaken by registered ringers at SAFRING. Ringing weavers also provides information on their longevity and movements. Range changes are monitored by the ADUs atlas project SABAP2.
PHOWN:
Accepted: 2371
(Uploaded: 2371)

Total nests counted: 42062

SESAW (Survival rates) records:
9384; 24 Apr 2012 		Latest weaver reference: PAPER: Red-headed Weaver colony revisited.

Todays weaver type: (see more here)
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Latest weaver news

First PHOWN record for Bocage's Weaver

2012-05-16 (218)
Bocage's Weaver was initially considered a subspecies of Cape Weaver, due to the similarity of these two species. The populations are widely separated, and Bocage's Weaver is found in central Angola, the southern DRC and north-western Zambia. It is colonial and lays blue eggs but otherwise is little known. The first PHOWN record for Bocage's Weaver has been submitted by bird ringer, bird guide and artist Rory McDougal, who attended the ringing course on Bovu island recently.

Rory's photos were taken before he knew about PHOWN but he has been back to the Luakera river recently. Rory said: "On this last trip I did on 16th April 2012, I again re visited the site very late in the evening, No birds seen or sign of old nests as water was very high and access very difficult." Rory will keep a look out for Bocage's Weaver nests on future trips to the area. See the Bocage's Weaver record VM 2371.

Many new weaver species have been added to PHOWN in recent weeks, and there are now 51 species represented in the PHOWN database (out of 117 species)!

PHOWN workshop in Kenya

2012-05-15 (217)
A workshop on PHOWN (Photos of Weaver Nests) will be held in Kenya, the country with the highest diversity of weaver species (over 60 species). A workshop will be held in Nairobi at the Nairobi National Museum from 28-30 May 2012. A second workshop will be held in Watamu on the Kenyan coast on 1-2 June. Anybody is welcome to attend!

PHOWN is a citizen science project of the Animal Demography Unit, to collect and monitor breeding distributions and colony sizes of weaver birds.

Photo: Golden Palm-Weaver, PHOWN 1533, submitted by D Rollinson

Program in Nairobi
To be held at the meeting hall in the Museum
The PHOWN workshop will be held with the usual museum outings. Contact Dr Peter Njoroge at pnjoroge [at] museums.or.ke
Mon, 28 May
    14h00 - Lecture 1: Weaver breeding biology
    15h00 - Tea
    15h30 - Practical: demonstration of uploading PHOWN records

Tue, 29 May
    7h00-11h00 - Bird ringing in the Museum gardens
    14h00 - Lecture 2: Photos of Weaver Nests project
    15h00 - Tea
    15h30 - Practical: uploading PHOWN records (for any participants that already have photos of weaver nests, with date and locality of the record)

Wed, 30 May
    8h45-12h30 - Bird walk, Kipande Rd
    12h30 - Practical: uploading PHOWN records from bird walk
    14h00 - Lecture 3 and discussion: PHOWN in Nairobi
    15h00 - Tea

Workshop details:
You will benefit most by attending all sessions, but if you can only come to one, or some of them, that is fine - come when you can!
Bring a laptop, if you have one. If you don't have a laptop, you can still come! Some materials will be provided that you can copy to your laptop.
Bring any photos of weaver nests you have, as long as you know the date and locality of the photos.
Bring a camera (and binoculars) to the bird walk.
Tea and snacks will be provided after the lectures for attendees.

Program in Watamu
To be held with Colin Jackson at the Mwamba Field Study Centre. Contact Colin at colin.jackson [at] arocha.org for details.

This workshop is funded by Project for the Enhancement of Research Capacity (PERC, University of Cape Town)

First PHOWN record for Rufous-tailed Weaver

2012-05-13 (216)
The first PHOWN record for Rufous-tailed Weaver has been submitted. The Rufous-tailed Weaver is a monotypic savanna weaver found in northern Tanzania, with a few records from southern Kenya. This granivorous species is monogamous and colonial. Its nest is a ball of grass, not woven, with two entrances initially - one opening is closed in breeding nests. Up to 30 nests may be built in a tree with building activity year round. It is resident at its nesting colonies. Nests may be used for breeding by Superb Starlings Spreo superbus, and for roosting by Fischer's Lovebirds Agapornis fischeri.

The PHOWN record was submitted by Colin Beale, University of York. His record is of interest as many nests of this species (VM 2365) were ina mixed colony with Village Weavers (VM 2364) and Lesser Masked Weavers (VM 2366).

Read Colin's blog on savanna research here.

First PHOWN record from Sierra Leone

2012-05-10 (215)
During a visit to Tonkolili Iron Ore Mine in Sierra Leone, John Pallett took a photo of a Village Weaver colony (see record details here (to see a large photo, go to the record, and click on Large Photos). This is also the most westerly PHOWN record to date. Several males were displaying in the colony. The photo was taken in February, and this fits in with the breeding season recorded in neighbouring Liberia where it is Sept-Apr.

Weavers found in Sierra Leone are Thick-billed Weaver, Red-headed Quelea, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Northern Red Bishop, Red-collared Widowbird, Black-winged Bishop, Yellow-mantled Widowbird, Compact Weaver, Village Weaver, Orange Weaver, Vieillot's Black Weaver, Black-necked Weaver, Slender-billed Weaver, Yellow-mantled Weaver, Maxwell's Black Weaver, Preuss's Weaver, Gola Malimbe, Crested Malimbe, Blue-billed Malimbe, Red-headed Malimbe, and Red-vented Malimbe.

Sociable Weaver associations

2012-05-08 (214)
During the Namibian ringers get-together 2012 at Wiese farm, ringing happened at several Sociable Weaver colonies. This allowed data to be collected on bird species associated with their nests. The 'Red' colony had some old Southern Masked Weaver nests in the same tree, indicating breeding by this species earlier in the year. At the 'White' colony we caught two Acacia Pied Barbets that had been roosting in a Sociable Weaver nest chamber. At the 'Blue' colony a small flock of Rosy-faced Lovebirds was using the nests and one was caught in the nets; later a pair of Red-headed Finches was investigating nest chambers while we were ringing. At the Sociable Weaver colony closest to the farm house, a pair of Pygmy Falcons was caught and ringed.

Photos: Acacia Pied Barbet, Rosy-faced Lovebirds waiting to return to the Sociable Weaver colony, Red-headed Finch investigating nest, pair of Pygmy Falcons.

A trip report will follow!

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