Weaver news

Red-billed Quelea sighting

2010-05-25 (62)


"I went out ringing at one of my usual sites this weekend which is in a reed bed which gives me loads of Cape Weaver, Red Bishops and a numbers of other common reed bed species. I've been ringing there quite frequently since 2007 and up until now nothing out of the ordinary has cropped up. On Saturday I was fortunate to ring six Red-billed Quelea, I know that these birds have been seen more and more frequently in the Western Cape and the Karoo but up until now I haven't spotted them on the southern side of the Outeniqua Mountain range. As you all know we are having the worst drought in 130 years, so one wonders if these dryer conditions are more attractive or there are any other factors which are influencing this movement of the species. It will be interesting to see if they stick around when we do finally get our much needed rain."
Andrew Marshall

Continue sending in sightings of quelea in the Western Cape see here