Red-billed buffalo weaver
The male has a red beak. Otherwise, the male is black and has only white edges on the primaries and wing coverts. The female has a grey upper side and a white-striped underside. Feet and legs are yellowish…
The Buffalo Weaver - a sociable bird outside of the breeding season
The male has a red beak. Otherwise, the male is black and has only white edges on the primaries and on the wing coverts. The female has a grey upper side and a white streaked underside. Feet and legs are yellowish brown or only slightly brownish. The iris of the eyes is dark brown. The young look almost like the females, but usually have more white spots on the nape and breast area.
Habitat
Most Buffalo Weavers live south of the Sahara. They mainly live in the countryside, where they find farmland and plenty of scrub. When it is not breeding season, it is an extremely sociable bird and also very loud. From a distance, you can hear the cackling and squeaking sounds it makes. On its menu are seeds, grains, berries, fruits and insects. It usually gets this food from the foliage of trees, but also from bushes and creepers. It also takes spiders from their webs and eats the berries and fruits of mistletoes. What farmers do not like so much is that they also feed on seeds. Its habitat is savannas as well as tropical and subtropical heathland. It can mainly be found in Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Kenya, Namibia, Somalia, Sudan, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In Rwanda, they occasionally stop by as well.
Breeding
The male Buffalo Weaver often mates with several females from a colony. The male is solely responsible for nest building. The nest consists of twigs, grasses, leaves and vines. Inside there are bark fibres, feathers, dry grass and broad leaves or foliage. It is roughly bottle-shaped and has a vertical entrance. The nest is attached to the tree with a few twigs. A popular tree for building a nest is, for example, the baobab tree. The breeding season is from July to February and peaks from September to November. The female lays two to three eggs, which it predominantly incubates alone for 12 to 13 days. Both males and females feed the young. After 17 days, the young leave the nest. The Buffalo Weaver often nests in areas where other weavers also nest.
