Ploceidae - aka African Golden Weaver
posted by Paul
The African Golden Weaver is part of the Ploceidae family of birds. They're extremely common in the suburbs around Cape Town and most often spotted near rivers or dams, making their distinctive nests (shaped much like huge drops of water) to hang from trees.Weaver birds are given the name because of the intricately woven nests. What's interesting is that you'll most often find that the entrance to their nests face downwards, towards the ground. I remember hearing once that they do this so that snakes are unable steal their eggs.
The slithery predators are forced to approach the nest from the branch above and due to the shape and location of the nest are unable to hold on to anything while attempting to enter the nest, causing them to fall unceremoniously to the ground.
I wonder which was the first Weaver to think of this bright idea?
2 Comments:
Also whenever a Weaver constructs its nest, you'll notice that it will strip all the leaves along the branch off. This is also due to the fact to make it harder and more noticeable if predators such as snakes are coming.
We were very lucky when we were in SA last October to be in an area where there were quite a lot of weaver nests and we did see the birds also...thanks for the explanations for why the nests are built the way they are.
It's a super capture!!
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