Introduction

Smith lived in South Africa from 1821 to 1837, mainly in Grahamstown and Algoa Bay (i.e. Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape, and in Cape Town in the Western Cape (Kirby 1965). Smith's type-localities are often imprecise because he was more interested in describing ranges than providing formal type-localities. Smith noted that the Spectacled Weaver was 'Found in similar situations with the foregoing', referring to Ploceus personatus = P. velatus for which the locality was given as 'Found in the eastern districts of the Colony'. In Smith (1839) he described it as being 'sparingly distributed over South Africa: more especially in the vicinity of the south-east coast'.

Clancey (1952) restricted the type locality to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, but Smith visited Durban for the first time only in 1832, four years later. Later, Clancey (1964) corrected this to the Eastern Cape and thereafter (1966) selected Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, as a type-locality because Smith was based there in his early years in South Africa.

The first illustration of a Spectacled Weaver is a colour painting by George Henry Ford who accompanied Smith later on a trip to the interior of South Africa. The next illustration is by Reichenbach (1863). The nest was illustrated first by Backhouse (1844) (not shown here), showing the nest in the same tree as the nest of a Sociable Weaver - this was artistic licence as these 2 weavers do not overlap in range.

Scientific citation

Meaning of names

First English name

Alternate names

Collector

Date collected

Locality collected

Type specimens

Identification. The Spectacled Weaver Ploceus ocularis is named after the black line running through its eye.

Unlike many other weaver species, Spectacled Weavers have the same bright yellow plumage year round. Sexes are similar but the female lacks the black bib of the male (above left). The juvenile has a pinkish bill, without the eye-stripe initially but can be distinguished from other weavers by its thin bill (above right). See a photo of the female in this pdf on eye colours here (821 kB). The western race of the Black-necked Weaver (see photo birdpix 1064) is very similar in plumage, and the two species overlap in range in Cameroon.

Distribution. Three subspecies of the Spectacled Weaver are currently recognised (see map right, based on Birds of Africa):
P. o. ocularis in eastern South Africa, Swaziland, and Mozambique south of the Limpopo River (see green on map right).
P. o. suahelicus in coastal Kenya and highlands east of the Rift Valley, eastern Tanzania, Malawi, eastern Zambia, eastern Zimbabwe, and Mozambique north of the Limpopo River (see yellow on map right). It is smaller than the nominate subspecies.
P. o. crocatus is found in SE Nigeria and Cameroon east (discontinuouly) to South Sudan and Ethiopia, East Africa west of the Rift Valley, western Zambia, Angola and south to northern Botswana (see red on map right). The head of both sexes is less chestnut than in the other races.

Habitat. The Spectacled Weaver is found in open woodland, forest margins, bushy thickets, wooded valleys, along riverine woodland, savanna with sparse trees, and gardens.

Food. The Spectacled Weaver is minly insectivorous, including crickets, moth caterpillars, beetle larvae; also spiders, centipedes, small crabs; geckos 3 cm long; berries; whole flowers; and nectar. The typical call while feeding is a characteristic descending series of whistles,'tee-tee-tee-tee".

Breeding. The Spectacled Weaver is a solitary species, probably a permanent pair bond, and pairs often nest at the same site every year. Sometimes nests from previous seasons hang near new nests. The nest is usually built by the male but sometimes the female helps. Unlike polygynous weavers which often build a nest in a day or two, the Spectacled Weaver may take 2-3 weeks to complete its nest.

The entrance tunnel is usually 10-20 cm long but may be more than 60 cm long. Nest height varies from 1-7 m above the ground. Egg laying may be as long as two months after the nest is completed. Sometimes a pair will raise two broods in a season - the same nest or a new nest may be used. Beryl Fraser submitted a great sequence of photos of a Spectacled Weaver pair that raised two broods in the same nest - see the PHOWN record here.

It is an occasional host of the Diederik Cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius.

The oldest Spectacled Weaver to date was a female recaptured several times up to 12 years 7.5 months later (see here).

Range changes in SA

The points below match the points on the map above.

Areas with very large increases include:
1. Eastern Cape.
2. KwaZulu-Natal.
3a,b,c. The western edge of its range in South Africa (other than the western edge in the Eastern Cape).

Large decreases appear to have occurred:
4. The western edge in the Eastern Cape.

Range changes elsewhere