Black-necked weaver

Appearance

The black-necked weaver is a stocky 16 cm bird with a strong conical bill. The adult male of the northern race has olive upper-parts and wings, and yellow underparts and head. It has a black eye-mask and bib, and a pale yellow iris. The non-breeding male has a yellow head with an olive crown, grey upper-parts and whitish. The wings remain yellow and black.

The adult female also has olive upper-parts and wings, and yellow underparts and head. It has a black eyemask but no bib.

The southern race found from Nigeria eastwards has a quite different appearance, with almost black upper-parts and tail.

The black-necked weaver feeds on insects and vegetable matter. The calls of this bird include a wheezing "dew-dew-twee".

Naming

There are four subspecies recognized:
⤷  "P. n. brachypterus" - Swainson, 1837: Found from Senegal and Gambia to western Cameroon
⤷  "P. n. nigricollis" - : Found from eastern Cameroon to southern Sudan, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania, southern Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola
⤷  "P. n. po" - Hartert, 1907: Found on Bioko
⤷  "P. n. melanoxanthus" - : Found from southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia to central and eastern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania

Distribution

This weaver occurs in forests, especially in wet habitats.

Behavior

It builds a large coarsely woven nest made of grass and creepers with a 15 cm downward facing entrance tunnel hanging from the globular egg chamber. The nest is suspended from a branch in a tree and 2-3 eggs are laid. It nests in pairs but forms small flocks when not breeding.

Reproduction

It builds a large coarsely woven nest made of grass and creepers with a 15 cm downward facing entrance tunnel hanging from the globular egg chamber. The nest is suspended from a branch in a tree and 2-3 eggs are laid. It nests in pairs but forms small flocks when not breeding.