Ploceus cucullatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus), also known as the spotted-backed weaver or black-headed weaver (the latter leading to easy confusion with P. melanocephalus), is a bird species in the family Ploceidae found in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It has also been introduced to Portugal and Venezuela as well as to the islands of Hispaniola, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Mauritius and Réunion.
This often abundant species occurs in a wide range of open or semi-open habitats, including woodlands and human habitation, and frequently forms large noisy colonies in towns, villages, and hotel grounds. This weaver builds a large coarsely woven nest made of grass and leaf strips with a downward-facing entrance, which is suspended from a branch in a tree. Two or three eggs are laid. Village weavers are colonial breeders, so many nests may hang from one tree.
Village weavers feed principally on seeds and grain, and can be a crop pest, but readily take insects, especially when feeding young, which partially redresses the damage to agriculture. The calls of this bird include harsh buzzes and chattering.
Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller provided the first scientific name, Oriolus... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 2 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 5 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 6 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 7 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 10 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Village Weaver sighting in Lusaka on a given day, based on 56 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 21st most-seen of the 87 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, June–August and October
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Village Weaver in Lusaka on a given day, against about 10% in September and November, the lowest months. Those are among Lusaka's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 210 mm in January.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Village Weaver sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 32
Of the 32 cities where we can rate Village Weaver sightings, Lusaka ranks 11th at about 30%. The best odds are in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, about 80%), Yaoundé (Cameroon, about 70%) and Serrekunda (Gambia, about 60%).
Same genus: Ploceus
The closest relatives of the Village Weaver that you can see in Lusaka (genus Ploceus, Typical Weavers) are Southern Masked Weaver (about 30%), Spectacled Weaver (about 20%) and Lesser Masked-Weaver (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Village Weaver is recorded against all the birds logged in Lusaka (56 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
