Cape weaver
| Cape weaver | |
|---|---|
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| Male in Johannesburg, South Africa | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Ploceidae |
| Genus: | Ploceus |
| Species: | P. capensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Ploceus capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) |
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The Cape weaver (Ploceus capensis) is a resident breeding weaver of Southern Africa, it is almost endemic to South Africa.
The Cape weaver is a stocky 17 cm long bird with streaked olive-brown upperparts and a long pointed conical bill. The breeding male has a yellow head and underparts, an orange face, and a white iris. The adult female has an olive-yellow head and breast, shading to pale yellow on the lower belly. Her eyes are brown, but 19% will have brown eyes. Young birds are similar to the female.
The song of the Cape weaver is a harsh, rather hysterical sizzle. The alarm call is a sharp double chip and the contact call is a harsh "azwit".
The Cape weaver is Endemic to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, occurring across much of the area excluding the Kalahari Desert from the Orange River in the Northern Cape south to the Cape of Good Hope then east to northern KwaZulu Natal and inland almost to Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State.
The Cape weaver occurs in open grassland, lowland fynbos, coastal thicket and farmland, so long as there is permanent water and trees. In the more arid, hotter regions it is restricted to upland areas and it never occurs in forest.
The Cape weaver is omnivorous with a diet that is evenly divided between animal and plant matter, particularly seeds, fruit and nectar. It forages in a variety of ways on the ground, in tree foliage, gleaning food from bark and hawking insects in the air. Its a relatively long bill is adapted to feeding on a wide variety of food items and there is a long list of items that this species has been recorded as eating, including various insects, spiders, seeds, nectar, and fruit. The females appear to enjoy a more varied diet than the males. Cape weavers are generalist nectar-feeders and in South Africa they are the major pollinators of aloes.
When not breeding the Cape Weaver forms flocks, and it congregates in large roosts throughout the year, these may be shared with other birds, including other species of weavers. In some areas they desert the breeding colonies, returning at the commencement of the following breeding season. Anting has been observed and these birds bathe, even in rain or mist.
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Wikipedia