With an area of 30355 sq km, Lesotho is one of the smaller countries in Africa. Twelve weaver species have been recorded in Lesotho, namely: White-browed Sparrow-weaver, Spectacled Weaver, Village Weaver, Cape Weaver, Southern Masked Weaver, Red-billed Quelea, Southern Red Bishop, Yellow Bishop, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Red-collared Widowbird, Fan-tailed Widowbird, and Long-tailed Widowbird.

This week Wayne Jones submitted the first two PHOWN records for this country. Both records were of Southern Masked Weavers nesting on man-made structures. The first colony (phown 3065) had about 30 nests attached to electricity wires about 12m above the ground. There were no suitable nesting sites nearby. The second colony (phown 3066) had about 18 nests, mostly clustered around the top of a pylon.

See the Lesotho PHOWN records here.