Dec 12

Bird of the day

Black-necked weaver

Ploceus nigricollis

The black-necked weaver (Ploceus nigricollis) is a resident breeding bird species in much of central Africa from Cameroon in the west to Kenya and southern Somalia in the east.

The black-necked weaver is a stocky 16 cm bird with a strong conical bill. The adult male of the northern race has olive upper-parts and wings, and yellow underparts and head. It has a black eye-mask and bib, and a pale yellow iris. The non-breeding male has a yellow head with an olive crown, grey upper-parts and whitish. The wings remain yellow and black.

The adult female also has olive upper-parts and wings, and yellow underparts and head. It has a black eyemask but no bib.

The southern race found from Nigeria eastwards has a quite different appearance, with almost black upper-parts and tail.

The black-necked weaver feeds on insects and vegetable matter. The calls of this bird include a wheezing dew-dew-twee .

Aliases

Ploceus nigricollis