Finn's weaver | |
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Male from Baur Reservoir Uttarakhand | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Ploceidae |
Genus: | Ploceus |
Species: | P. megarhynchus |
Binomial name | |
Ploceus megarhynchus Hume, 1869 |
Finn's weaver or Finn's baya (Ploceus megarhynchus), also known as yellow weaver is a species of weaver bird found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys in India and Nepal. Two races are known; the nominate from the Kumaon area and salimalii from the eastern Terai.
The species was named by Hume based on a specimen obtained at Kaladhungi near Nainital. The species was rediscovered in the Terai near Calcutta by Frank Finn. Oates called it "The Eastern Baya" in 1889 and Stuart Baker called it Finn's baya in the second edition (1925) of the Fauna of British India.
They breed from May to September. The nest is built on top of trees or in reeds. The nest is different in structure from the other weaver species found in India, but as in other weavers, woven from thin strips of leaves and reeds. This species lines the entire inside of the nest, unlike the other weavers, which line only the floor of the nest. Males strip the leaves of the nest tree, making the globular nests clearly visible.