Weaver news

Longevity record for the Eastern Golden Weaver

2015-07-02 (653)


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Eastern Golden Weaver male
Eastern Golden Weaver, or Yellow Weaver, Ploceus subaureus with ring BH12812 was recaptured on 7 December 2014 by Andrew Pickles at Umzumbe Floodplain in KwaZulu-Natal as an adult male. It had been ringed, also as an adult male, by Andrew on the same floodplain on 7 December 2002 (coincidentally on the same day and month!). The elapsed time between ringing and recapture is 12 years to the day, a new longevity record for the species.

The previous record was of a female at 8 years 5 months (see news item here). The new record had been overlooked until now. To date, 5069 Eastern Golden Weavers have been ringed, 411 have been recaptured, and 18 have been recovered.

For more weaver longevity records, see here.