PHOWN (PHOtos of Weaver Nests provides information on the breeding distribution, breeding seasonality, colony size, nest use by other species, and other aspects of breeding. Most records indicate the type of nest site that was used, based on 4 categories:
tree - nests in woody vegetation, including trees and shrubs, nests suspended from vines in forests
reed - nests in reed-type vegetation, including reeds, bamboos and other grasses
man-made - nests built on man-made structures, including fences, telephone lines or poles, roof edges, and many other sites
other - this category covers multiple sites, eg a colony where the nests are in a tree as well as the reeds below the tree; it also covers any types of site not covered by the above categories (if any).

Here the types of nest sites were analysed for weaver species with over 30 PHOWN records. This gave results for 16 species, as listed below. Some interesting patterns are discussed:

• There 4 species in the analysed set that nest in all 3 types of sites, the Lesser Masked Weaver, Southern Masked Weaver, Cape Weaver and Village Weaver, although the majority of colonies are in trees (>80% in all 4 species).
• Man-made nest sites may be the most secure sites against predators (if the nests are not molested by humans) and weather, followed by trees, and then reeds.
• Species with the highest proportion of nests on man-made sites were the Red-headed Weaver (24%), Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver (19%) and Sociable Weaver (11%). These are species that normally nest in trees and never in reeds.
• There are no species in the analysed set, that only nest in reeds, although Thick-billed Weavers mostly do nest in reeds (>95%) as do Southern Red Bishops (>91%), and these two species never nest on man-made structures.