Derivation of scientific name
The species name capensis is Latin and it means ‘after the Cape of Good Hope’. It was noted by Brisson that the Cape Weavers originated from the Cape of Good Hope, this can be anywhere in the Cape but most likely the Cape Weaver on which the name was based was collected from the Cape peninsula.
Common names
Cape Weaver (Eng.); Kaapse wewer (Afr.), ihobohobo (Xhosa); talane (Sesotho), soha (Xitsonga)
Introduction
Cape Weavers are active, loud and have a showy yellow colour that brightens up your garden. They have perfected the skill of nest-weaving, and this is not a skill they learn, but one that comes naturally from birth (known as instinct behaviour or inherited facility).
How to recognise a Cape Weaver
Cape Weavers are about 18 cm long. The sexes differ in colour; females and non-breeding males are a dull, olive-green colour above and a buffy yellow underneath, while breeding males are a bright, showy, yellow colour. The wings are blackish with yellow to green colour at the edges. The male’s iris is cream, while the female’s iris is brown. The bill is long, pointed and strong (black in breeding males, pinkish-brown in females and non-breeding males) and the legs are also pinkish-brown.
Getting around
Cape Weavers move around in flocks (often mixing with other grain-eating species such as sparrows, canaries, bishops and other weavers) looking for building materials for their nests and for food. The male Cape Weaver can travel up to 20 km to collect suitable nest materials.
Communication
They make an urgent call of ‘chunk, chunk’. The males also utter a rapid ‘a-zwitt, a-zwitt’, as well as chattering and ‘swizzling’ songs with clear notes.
Distribution
The Cape Weaver is endemic to South Africa and Lesotho. In South Africa it is widely distributed in the southwestern and central regions.
Habitat
Cape Weavers inhabit places near water and they can also be found in areas where there are trees and shrubs. They prefer building communal nests in reeds or trees. In winter they often form folks with starlings.
Food
Their diet mainly consists of flowers and other soft parts of the plant, such as fruits, nectar, grass seeds etc. When feeding on flowers, their foreheads are often discoloured with pollen. Their diet also includes insects, which they get from under tree bark or underneath rocks. Cape Weavers can therefore be classified as omnivores.
SEX and LIFE CYCLES
Sex: Cape Weavers are polygamous; one male mating with up to seven females. The female lays 2–5 eggs, which she will incubate for 13 or more days. The eggs are an immaculate, greenish-blue colour and the colour is more-or-less evenly distributed over the egg, usually darker at the thick end. The chicks are similar to the female in appearance. Nesting of the chicks can last up to 17 days.
Family life
They commonly make their nests in willow trees close to water, where they will breed in noisy colonies or occasionally singly. The colonies usually consist of 20 or more nests. Males are very territorial; marking their territory boundaries by singing and lunging. The nest is built by the male for about seven days and will wait for a female to move in.
If no female accepts the nest, the male destroys that nest and builds a new one. To attract females the males hang from the downward-facing entrance and sway to-and-fro, flapping their wings and uttering ‘swizzling’ calls until a female is attracted. When the female accepts the nest, she then adds the lining to the nest using soft grass and leaves.
Once the offspring are born the female will do the parenting duties of feeding the chicks, but some males also occasionally participate in feeding. Eggs are laid from July to November in the Eastern Cape and from August to February in KwaZulu-Natal and inland provinces.
THE BIG PICTURE
Friends and Foes
The Cape Weaver is commonly preyed upon by boomslangs, which attack the chicks or eggs, and rats will also rob the nest of chicks. Other predators include the Spotted Eagle-Owl, domestic cats, African Harrier-Hawk and chacma baboons.
Cape Weavers host the Diderick Cuckoo, which will sometimes parasitise their nests.
Poorer world without me
Many birds and other animals are dependent on the nests of the weavers to breed or roost as they do not make their own nests. The nests of the weavers play a role in providing shelter for other birds and animals.
Conservation status and what the future holds
Cape Weavers are abundant and very common; they are categorised as Least Concern.
Relatives
The genus Ploceus has 63 species and 57 of these species are in Africa.
Scientific classification
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Ploceidae
Genus: Ploceus
Species: P. capensis (Linnaeus, 1766).
References and further reading
- Newman, K. 2000. Birds of southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
- McLachlan, G., Liversidge, R. 1982. Roberts Birds of South Africa. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
- Sinclair, I. 1988. Field guide to the birds of southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
- Sinclair, I. & Mendelsohn, J. 1995. Everyone’s guide to South African birds. CTP Book Printers, Cape Town.
Author: Sibahle Gumede
KwaZulu-Natal National Botanical Garden
February 2015