The top five species ringed over the last 62 years are Barn Swallow (n=168287), Red-billed Quelea (134577), Southern Masked Weaver (125246), Cape Gannet (106351), and Southern Red Bishop (105393). So three weavers are in the top 5 ringed birds. The peaks of quelea ringing correspond to government funding to study this pest species.

SAFRINGs annual ringing reports are available online here, showing the ringing totals for all species. In the 1950s most of the total annual catch comprised of Red-billed Queleas. Initially the reports were published in Ostrich (until 1983), then in Safring news and Afring News (note that many of these reports are several MB in size).