Ploceus benghalensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The black-breasted weaver (Ploceus benghalensis), also known as the Bengal weaver or black-throated weaver, is a weaver resident in the northern river plains of the Indian subcontinent. Like the other weavers, the males build an enclosed nest from reeds and mud, and visiting females select a mate at least partially based on the quality of the nest.
The black-breasted weaver was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the crossbills in the genus Loxia and coined the binomial name Loxia benghalensis. Linnaeus based his account on two earlier descriptions and hand-coloured illustrations by English naturalists. In 1734 Eleazar Albin had included the "Bengal sparrow" in his A Natural History of Birds, while in 1751 George Edwards had included the "yellow-headed Indian sparrow" in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Both authors had access to specimens owned by the silk-pattern designer Joseph Dandridge that had been collected in Bengal. The black-breasted weaver is now one of 67 species placed in the genus Ploceus that was introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1816... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 2 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 3 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vijayawada | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Surat | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Vadodara | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Jaipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | New Delhi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Kolkata | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bengal Weaver sighting in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 208th most-seen of the 278 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bengal Weaver in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months. That is one of Keoladeo National Park's wettest months, with about 240 mm of rain against 5 mm in November.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bengal Weaver sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Bengal Weaver sightings, Keoladeo National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Royal Bardia National Park (Nepal, about 10%), Chitwan National Park (Nepal, under 5%) and Kaziranga National Park (India, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bengal Weaver is recorded against all the birds logged in Keoladeo National Park (31 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.
