Ploceus capensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Cape weaver (Ploceus capensis) is a species of bird in the weaver family, Ploceidae, found in southern Africa. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Cape weaver in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope. He used the French name Le carouge du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Xanthornus Capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Cape weaver. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Oriolus capensis and cited Brisson's work. The specific name capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope. This species is now placed in the genus Ploceus that was erected by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816. The species is monotypic.
The Cape weaver is a stocky 17 cm long bird with streaked olive-brown upperparts and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monkeyland | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Birds of Eden | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Weaver sighting in Golden Gate Highlands National Park on a given day, based on 77 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 10th most-seen of the 108 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Cape Weaver in Golden Gate Highlands National Park on a given day, against about 30% in February and April–July, the lowest months. March has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cape Weaver sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Cape Weaver sightings, Golden Gate Highlands National Park ranks 3rd at about 50%. The best odds are in West Coast National Park (South Africa, about 70%) and De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cape Weaver is recorded against all the birds logged in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (77 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
