Created 30-Jun-25
54 photos
Odds are that you have never seen a weaver bird. Even though there are over 100 species of Weaver birds in the world, none of them are native to North or South America. As a group, they build a wide variety of elaborate nests, from single family homes to large condos, and all are made of intricately woven grasses and reeds. In Johannesberg S.A. I got to observe and photograph nesting behavior of a group of Southern Masked Weavers. The small portion of the nesting ritual I witnessed was so impressive that I have dedicated this entire gallery to sharing what I saw.
This specie of weaver typically lives socially in nesting colonies, often in trees near or over water. The male may build as many as 25 nests in a season, and mate with several females. I observed a male that had constructed a new nest and was bringing females by to examine it (the green nest). If the females all reject the nest, the male will tear it down. I think the new green nest obsoleted the old brown nest. It appeared the brown nest was rejected,so the male went about de-constructing it.
I had not gotten to witness much of the construction process, but watching the de-construction made it clear how much intricate work goes into each nest. And this is no simple demolition either. The male removes every single piece of the carefully woven nest so the single branch it was attached to is completey bare. Then the male goes down and cleans up all the scrap on the ground. Not a trace is left.
I have placed the images in chronological order so you can see the process I have described above.
New and resized 7/25
Category:
Subcategory:
Subcategory Detail:
Keywords:
