WEAVERS - BIRD OF THE MONTH - JUNE & JULY 2014*

[Dewi]

Scaly-featherd Finch.

Pilanesburg.



KTP.

[Toko]

Kgalagadi 13th borehole

[Flutterby]

Scaly-feathered Finch, Pilanesberg

[nan]

Kgalagadi - Scaly-feathered Finch (Weaver) / Scoropipe squameux

22.1.2012

19.1.2012

15.1.2012

[Tina]

scaly-feathered finch KTP

[Lisbeth]

Does someone have a pic of a nest? or are they like the social weavers

[Toko]

There is a special website for weaver nests where you can see what they look like: PHOWN (PHOtos of Weaver Nests)

http://weavers.adu.org.za/phown_vm.php?vm=1542

A round ball

[nan]

Scaly-feathered Finch's nest



thank you Toko

[Amoli]

My contribution - and my only pic

Taken in Pilansberg

[Lisbeth]

Genus Amblyospiza

Thick-billed Weaver, Amblyospiza albifrons


It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Description
15-17 cm. The largest weaver in the region. The only dark weaver to have a massive, thick bill, which is very deep at the base. The eyes of both genders are brown, the legs and feet grey to black.
The male is dark chololate brown with white frontal patches and conspicious white wing patches in flight. It has a black bill.
Females and juveniles are olive brown above with buff flecks and white below streaked dark brown. The female has a yellow bill.

Distribution
Occurs in patches of West and East Africa, extending south through Tanzania and northern DRC to Zambia, Angola and southern Africa. Here it is locally common in northern Botswana, Caprivi Strip (Namibia), Zimbabwe's eastern highlands, central and southern Mozambique and north-eastern and south-eastern South Africa.
Native to: Angola (Angola); Benin; Botswana; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; Nigeria; Rwanda; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa (along the south-eastern and eastern parts and in Gauteng); South Sudan; Sudan; Swaziland; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe.

Habitat
Thornveld and dry, scrubby rivercourses. In the breeding season it generally favours marshes, rivers, dams with rank grass, reedbeds and Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) beds, but in the non-breeding season it prefers edges and clearings in evergreen forest, also occupying reed-beds adjacent to ponds in suburban parks, alien plantations and cultivated areas.

Diet
They forage in the forest canopy eating seeds, fruit, insects and small molluscs.

Breeding
This species is polygynous, the male attempting to attract several females. Colonies may be small with one male, or larger with several males, in a reed patch. The nest is built solely by the male in about 2-12 days, first constructing a cup (unlike other weavers such as Ploceus) over which a dome is woven, forming a globe-shaped structure with a side entrance near the top. Initially the entrance is large, and reduced to a narrow opening if used for breeding. The nest is usually made of woven material, usually Bulrush (Typha capensis) leaves, and once completed and approved by the female she lines the interior with finer material. It is typically suspended between at least two upright stems of Bulrush, reeds (Phragmites) or Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus), more rarely in Garden canna (Canna indica). Sometimes the male builds it in a tree adjacent to marshes, but it is always rejected by the female. Egg-laying season is from November-April. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14-16 days. The chicks are fed solely by the female on a diet of soft larvae, insects and fruit pulp, leaving the nest after about 19-22 days.