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Weaver
Finches
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HABITAT AND RANGE:worldwide, except Australia and Pacific
Islands, in woods and scrub
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DESCRIPTION:11-19 cm; bill conical, sharply pointed;
wide variety of plumages with various streaking and/or
red or yellow predominating; male often more colorful
than female;
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FOOD:feed on seeds, buds and fruits and some insects
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BREEDING:unusual or unpredictable breeding seasons;
most spp. gregarious and many nomadic; monogamous; 2-7
eggs; biparental care.
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weaver bird, name for the Ploceidae, a family of Old World seed-eating
birds closely resembling finches (hence the alternate name weaver
finch). It includes a number of so-called goldfinches and waxbill
finches that are actually weaver birds, rather than true finches of
the family Fringillidae. The weavers are named for the highly complex
woven nests built by many species, though others build only crude
nests, and the parasitic widow weavers build no nests at all. Most
weavers are sedentary, noisy, gregarious, and polygynous, with elaborate
courtship rituals. The weaver group is divided into the buffalo, sparrow,
typical, and widow weavers. The African buffalo weavers are black-and-brown
birds 8 to 10 in. (20.3–25.4 cm) long, that travel in small flocks
and build bulky compartmented nests with separate chambers for two
or more pairs. Of the 35 sparrow weavers the best known, and in fact
one of the most widely distributed and familiar small birds in the
world, is the English sparrow native to Europe, W Asia, and N Africa.
It is the most successful town and city dweller among birds, and has
followed European civilization wherever it has gone; it was introduced
to North America in 1852. As common in Asia is the Eurasian tree sparrow
(also introduced in the United States), a nuisance in rice fields
and sold in great quantities for food. These birds build untidy domed
nests with side entrances. Most specialized of the sparrow weavers
is the social weaver of Africa, famous for its apartment-house nest,
in which 100 to 300 pairs have separate flask-shaped chambers entered
by tubes at the bottom. They build these structures, which may be
10 ft (3 m) high and 15 ft (4.5 m) across, high in a sturdy tree,
beginning with a roof of straw thatch. Of the 100 or more African
and Asian typical weavers, the small quelea, only 5 in. (12.7 cm)
long, sometimes causes huge crop losses in Africa by feeding on grain
in flocks numbering as many as one million birds. The African widow
weavers (named for the long, drooping black tail plumes of the breeding
male), or whydahs, are notable for their selective parasitic nesting
habits; they lay their eggs in the nests of waxbills, and their eggs
are white, as are those of the waxbill, rather than spotted, as are
those of all other weavers. Many of the weaver family are kept as
cage birds, especially the colorful waxbills (e.g., the Java sparrow,
mannikin, munia, grenadier, cutthroat, and cordon-bleu, locust, parrot,
Gouldian, and fire finches). Weaver birds are classified in the phylum
Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeriformes. |
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| Bird rescue & bird adoption;
parrot refuge/rescue & placement for unwanted birds. |
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| Check out our list of local
birds broken down by your state and different types of
species. |
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| Migrating birds stay on track
because of chemical reactions in their bodies that are
influenced by the Earth's magnetic field... |
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Part
I
November
19, 2004