Introduction

The description was published in a book about birds collected on Baron Carl Klaus von der Decken's travels in east Africa, but the book included birds from other collections, including the Southern Brown-throated Weaver.

The Southern Brown-throated Weaver was collected by Sir John Kirk, a Scottish physician and naturalist.

Kirk was part of David Livingstone's Zambesi expedition from 1858 to 1864, travelling from the mouth of the Zambesi upstream, and also exploring the Shire River, a northern tributary of the Zambesi.

On a return from Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), the expedition boat was stuck in the Elephant Marsh on the Shire River during Nov-Dec 1861. Kirk collected the Southern Brown-throated Weaver while stranded here. When the rains came, the river started to rise and the expedition coninued, reaching the Mozambican coast in early Jan 1862.

Kirk also collected many other birds and mammals along the Zambesi on this expedition, and sent most of these specimens to the British Museum.

The first illustration of the Southern Brown-throated Weaver was of an adult male by Cabanis (1884). This was followed by a colour painting, of the head of a male, by Sharpe (1890).

Scientific citation

Meaning of names

First English name

Alternate names

Collector

Date collected

Locality collected

Type specimens

The Southern Brown-throated Weaver Ploceus xanthopterus is a small weaver, with a short tail. The breeding male is the only weaver in its range with a brown face and throat which are demarcated from the yellow head. Females, non-breeding males and young birds have a distinct cinnamon wash on the upperparts, and the bill is two-toned. It does not overlap in range with the similar Northern Brown-throated Weaver of East Africa.

There are three subspecies of the Southern Brown-throated Weaver, with disjunct distributions (see map left, based on Birds of Africa):
P. x. xanthopterus, found in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique south to the Zambezi River, and NE Zimbabwe (see green on map).
P. x. castaneigula, in the Caprivi in Namibia, the Okavango in Botswana and the upper Zambezi River (see blue on map). This subspecies is larger than the nominate race, and the male has the crown orange-yellow, in contrast to the green mantle.
P. x. marleyi, in Mozambique from the Save River, southwards, SE Zimbabwe, South Africa (see red on map). In this subspecies the male has the crown bright yellow, with little contrast with the mantle; and the throat is tawny rather than chestnut.

There is one out of range record, Nest Record Card 100170, from Chiredzi in SE Zimbabwe.

The Southern Brown-throated Weaver inhabits reeds and tall aquatic vegetation in wetlands. It forages in nearby riparian forest and other dense vegetation, but usually not far from water. It is usually found in small flocks (less than 20 birds), and it rarely associates with other weavers. Like other weavers, it undergoes a complete moult after breeding, but males start moulting while there are still eggs and chicks in nests. The furthest distance moved (from ringing data) is 8 km, and the oldest bird is 13 years (see here).

The diet of the Southern Brown-throated Weaver is seeds, including grasses; berries; insects including moths, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars; flowers; and also bread in gardens.

The Southern Brown-throated Weaver is colonial, with 10-300 nests per colony. It is polygynous, with males attracting 2-3 females. Females are double-brooded (in Malawi), using a new nest for the second clutch. The nest is an oval, with the entrance below, and without a porch. Nests are mostly built in reedbeds of Phragmites, Typha or Papyrus and rarely in trees. One colony of 20-30 nests was placed in a small Acacia overhung a birdbath. It may nest alongside Southern Red Bishop.

Range changes in SA

The points below match the points on the map above.

Areas with very large increases include:
1. SE Mpumalanga, especially around Komatipoort - this species was not recorded in Mpumalanga prior to 2002.

Areas with very large decreases:
2. Northern coastal Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal.
3. Coastal KwaZulu-Natal has many grids with decreases although a few have large increases.

Southernmost limit
4. The furthest south record for this species is from Illovo, south of Durban (Oatley 1973a), but has rarely been recorded south of Durban since.

Range changes elsewhere