The breeding male Cape Weaver bird has pale eyes, a orange wash over the face and a black line from the bill to the eye. The females and non-breeding males are paler and look very dull compared to the breeding males. This last weekend we went camping at Sleepy Hollow and I spent some time by one of the pools in the river watching these guys building their nests. Its hard and arduous work. They would fly off and come back with on piece of grass or reed leave in his beak. This he will weave into the nest before flying off again to do it over and over.
Once the nest is completed, the female would come and have a look. If she isn’t happy she would rip the nest apart and the male will come back and rebuilt it for her next inspection.
The Cape Weavers are normally found singly, in pairs or in small flocks amongst trees, usually near water. In this case this colony of weavers had their nests overhanging a waterhole in the river. Specially in the early mornings and late afternoons the noise of the chattering birds by the river was something else to hear along with all the other bird sounds in the valley.This is the first of the photos I took this last weekend on our camping trip to Sleepy Hollow. I will do a more detailed write-up on the place on another day.
Wow, Firefly, these shots are really great! Very,very cool capture!
Interesting photos; I like the explanation that goes along with it.Thanks for stopping by a commenting! I will say, though, that there is no initiation or hazing going on, just hypnosis (which was hilarious to watch and take photos of).
A very pretty bird, but its nest is most amazing. How cool to watch it weave the grasses like that.
Amazing little bird.Sydney – City and Suburbs
I really like these little guys, they just keep on working at it until she's happy.Really looking forward to the general Sleepy Hollow post. Now I'm tempted to post some of the photos I took there in April 2008.
We have about 12 Weaver nests in our garden at the moment. I love watching them build, but its even funnier when they destroy and make a huge mess in P's pool!!
Seen these on TV, nice shots, clever little things.