Introduction

Paterson provided the first description and illustrations of the Sociable Weaver and its massive communal nest. He compared the nest to a thatched roof which he considered an "aerial city". He saw many large nests and estimated one to have 800-1000 birds living in it.

Paterson wrote about the Sociable Weaver in December 1779 after having returned from Namibia, so the exact locality is not clear. He noted that he saw the weavers and nests soon after seeing giraffe, and he would have seen the nests north of the Orange River between Goodhouse and Warmbad, during October 1779. The type locality was restricted to Warmbad for convenience.

Soon after Paterson's journey, Le Vaillant travelled to the Orange River and also illustrated and wrote about the Sociable Weaver. He collected the first Rosy-faced Lovebirds, which he obtained at a Sociable Weaver colony. Le Vaillant thus was the first person to report weaver nests being used by non-weavers. Thereafter, many travellers in southern Africa wrote about the Sociable Weaver and its unique nest.

Scientific citation

Meaning of names

First English name

Alternate names

Collector

Date collected

Locality collected

Type specimens

Identification. The Sociable Weaver Philetairus socius with its huge communal nest is the iconic feature of arid regions in southern Africa. Adults are distinctive with scaled upperparts and flanks, black bib and brown cap. Juveniles lack the bib.

Distribution. The distribution map (below) is based on The Atlas of southern African Birds, showing the current PHOWN records. There have been very slight range expansions at the edges of its range in some parts (e.g. see here), although the southernmost colony has not changed in 21 years (e.g. see here).

The Sociable Weaver is expected to expand its range as climate change results in an expansion of the arid region in southern Africa. Several subspecies have been described for this species in the past, but are no longer considered valid.

Habitat. This species is found in open, arid country with scattered trees.

Food. It forages on the ground, feeding on seeds and insects, especially harvester termites. They forage within 1.5 km of their nest sites which they occupy year-round.

Breeding. The nest of the Sociable Weaver is remarkable. It may be the largest nest in the avian world, although other contenders have been considered. Nests may be up to 7m diameter, with a weight up to 1 ton. The nests are built of dry grass and nest masses would not survive in areas of high rainfall. Birds huddle together in chambers on cold winter nights to raise the temperature within the chamber. During hot summer days, birds shelter in the cool shade of the chambers.

Nest sites are mainly camel thorn trees but other tree species are also used, as is the quiver tree (photo below left, phown 1103). Man-made structures are often used, particularly telephone poles. Interesting nest sites were on a dilapidated rondavel (photo below center, phown 1030) and on windmill blades (photo below right, phown 1577).

Sociable Weaver nests provide shelter and nest sites for many other birds, particularly the Pygmy Falcon which is dependant on this weaver in southern Africa (e.g. see Tswalu survey). Some other species that regularly roost or breed in the Sociable Weaver nests are Acacia Pied Barbet, Rosy-faced Lovebirds and Red-headed Finches see photos here).

Ideally nest records submitted to PHOWN should include a nest count, where possible, to obtain a rough guide to the colony size. For Sociable Weavers, this means counting the individual chambers by walking underneath the nest mass. Presence of snakes, however, is a good reson not to count nest chambers - Cape Cobras often raid eggs and chicks in Sociable Weaver nests, as seen in this photo (left, from phown 2172).

Range changes in SA

Areas with very large increases include:
1. the Springbok area,
2. the area north of the Carnarvon to Britstown road,
3. near Barkley West (this is on the southern edge of the Ghaap plateau),
4. and the northernmost part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Large decreases appear to have occurred:
5. along the lower Orange River,
6. in the area from Augrabies Falls National Park to Kakamas,
7. and the area south of Christiana.

8. Absent on the Ghaap plateau:
There is a large gap in range of the Sociable Weaver around the Ghaap plateau, between Danielskuil and Vryburg. The weaver appears to have been absent from here for at least 100 years. There are new records (SABAP2) in the southern part of this gap (point 3), indicating that the Sociable Weaver may be colonising this area northwards.

Range changes elsewhere