Ploceus xanthopterus
The Southern Brown-throated Weaver (*Ploceus xanthopterus*) is a vibrant passerine belonging to the family Ploceidae, renowned for its intricate nest-building prowess. Males are strikingly colored, displaying a bright yellow body, black lores, and a distinctive chestnut-brown throat patch, often framed by a fine black line, with a stout conical bill ideal for seed-cracking. They typically measure 14-15 cm in length and weigh between 18 and 28 grams. Females are considerably duller, exhibiting...
Found primarily in tropical and subtropical moist lowlands, inhabiting a variety of wetland-associated environments including reedbeds, papyrus swamps, riverine forests, and dense thickets near water sources, typically at elevations below 1,500 meters.
Primarily granivorous, feeding on a variety of grass seeds and grains, supplemented with a significant intake of insects, particularly during the breeding season to provision their young. They forage by gleaning from vegetation and probing for insects.
Southern Brown-throated Weavers are highly social birds, often forming large mixed-species flocks outside the breeding season, roosting communally in dense reedbeds. Foraging occurs primarily in the upper and mid-canopy of trees and reeds, where they glean insects and seeds. During the breeding s...
The Southern Brown-throated Weaver has a wide, albeit somewhat fragmented, distribution across sub-Saharan Africa. Its primary breeding range extends from south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, east through Zambia, Malawi, and western Tanzania, south into Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namib...
Least Concern
- The male Southern Brown-throated Weaver is solely responsible for weaving the intricate, retort-shaped nest, often completing several in a season to attract multiple mates. - Nests are typically suspended from reed stems or branches, frequently over water, likely as a defense mechanism against ...