Weaver news

Weaver Wednesday series

2016-12-01 (755)


gravit8 Weaver Wednesday is a weekly series about weavers. The full info on the topic appears on the Weaver Watch web, with abbreviated versions appearing on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+). Weaver Wednesday is sponsored by Gravit8, a company providing comprehensive IT solutions.

Weaver Wednesday 1 - Biology

Red-headed Weaver male
from the first Weaver Wednesday story

20 June 2012 to 10 Sept 2014

Weaver Wednesday started in June 2012 to describe each weaver species on a weekly basis, focusing on distribution, subspecies, and breeding notes.

The sequence was somewhat random, with one species picked from each genus initially, and then more well known species being covered.

Each news item was illustrated with a distribution map, picture of the species, and where possible an illustration of the nest or colony.

Weaver Wednesday 1 list - list of species covered in series 1. However, these texts are updated under the Species pages so rather go here.

Weaver Wednesday 2 - Discovery

17 Sept 2014 to 28 Dec 2016

Black-winged Bishop male, start of
the 2nd Weaver Wednesday series
The second series covered the history of each weaver species. This included a summary of the discovery and naming of the weaver species, followed by the following headers:
  • Scientific citation - the reference for the original description, with type locality
  • Meaning of scientific name
  • Alternate names
  • Collector
  • Date collected
  • Locality collected
  • Type specimens - where housed, if known.

Each news item was well illustrated, usually including the first published illustration of the species, and a map showing the type locality. Many of the texts provide new information. The sequence of species was chronological, i.e. in the sequence that the weaver species were originally described, starting with the Black-winged Bishop.

As each news item appeared, it was added to the species summary page, together with the Biology news item (the latter was given headers and sometimes updated). Thus the species page is the most up-to-date site to read any Weaver Wednesday text.

Weaver Wednesday 2 list - list of species covered in series 2: click the "Described" option and then the "Sort by" button - the species list will then appear in the order that the species were described.

The Discovery series was summarised over 3 weeks:
Discovery by decades
Discovery by distribution
Discovery by author

Weaver Wednesday 3 - Range changes in South African weavers

4 January 2017 to 28 June 2017

This series shows the changes in distribution for the 25 South African weaver species, based on the changes between SABAP1 (1987-1991) and SABAP2 (2007-current).

The series was summarised here.

Species list of weavers, showing overall changes in South Africa, with links to the Weaver Wednesday story.

Species Very big incr Large incr Small incr Small decr
[1]: Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver      
[2]: White-browed Sparrow-Weaver      
[3]: Sociable Weaver      
[4]: Scaly-feathered Finch      
[5]: Dark-backed Weaver      
[6]: Spectacled Weaver      
[7]: Lesser Masked Weaver      
[8]: Red-headed Weaver      
[25]: Chestnut Weaver      
[9]: Village Weaver      
[10]: Cape Weaver      
[11]: Eastern Golden Weaver      
[12]: Holub's Golden Weaver      
[13]: Southern Brown-throated Weaver      
[14]: Southern Masked Weaver      
[15]: Thick-billed Weaver      
[16]: Red-billed Quelea      
[17]: Red-headed Quelea      
[18]: Southern Red Bishop      
[19]: Yellow Bishop      
[20]: Yellow-crowned Bishop      
[21]: Red-collared Widowbird      
[22]: White-winged Widowbird      
[23]: Fan-tailed Widowbird      
[24]: Long-tailed Widowbird      
Total species 1 9 9 6

Weaver Wednesday 4 - Weaver themes

5 July 2017 onwards