Ploceus bicolor
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The dark-backed weaver (Ploceus bicolor), also known as the forest weaver, is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is very sparsely present across central and southern Sub-Saharan Africa. Dark-backed weaver - Species text in Weaver Watch.
(Dark-backed weaver = ) Forest weaver - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. image at ADW Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 5 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 6 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Dark-backed Weaver sighting in Liwonde National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 214th most-seen of the 267 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and September–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dark-backed Weaver in Liwonde National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August and November–June, the lowest months. Those are among Liwonde National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 300 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dark-backed 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.
5th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Dark-backed Weaver sightings, Liwonde National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa, about 40%), uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 30%) and Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 20%).
Same genus: Ploceus
The closest relatives of the Dark-backed Weaver that you can see in Liwonde National Park (genus Ploceus, Typical Weavers) are Southern Brown-throated Weaver (about 40%), Spectacled Weaver (about 10%) 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 Dark-backed Weaver is recorded against all the birds logged in Liwonde National Park (12 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.
