PHOWN priority: Thick-billed Weaver Amblyospiza albifrons
Are colony sizes of weavers larger or smaller in newly colonised areas compared to their well established range?
The Thick-billed Weaver expanded its range to Gauteng in the 1960s and soon became well established in Johannesburg and Pretoria. In recent years it has again started expanding its range outwards from Gauteng. You can help answer the above question by submitting PHOWN records (with nest counts) for this species, especially in and around Gauteng, and the results will be automatically updated below (as soon as your record has been accepted).
The Thick-billed Weaver has one of the largest range extents of any weaver and so PHOWN records (with nest counts) for this species from anywhere in Africa are welcome, to see if there are regional differences in colony size.
Table showing up-to-date variation in colony size in Thick-billed Weavers for PHOWN records in Gauteng and the surrounding provinces (west of 29 E).
| Area | Min | Mean | Max | n |
| Gauteng | 1 | 4.0 | 22 | 70 |
| Around Gauteng | 1 | 3.8 | 17 | 10 |
Currently the average colony size is smaller in the expanding range outside Gauteng than it is in the core Gauteng range.
The blue grids on the map below show range expansion in the Thick-billed Weaver - to read more about its changing range (with an explanation of the grid colours), see here and to see a map of all PHOWN records for this species see here.
