Social Weaver

Social weavers build large communal nests

These nests are used for living throughout the year. Accordingly, the nests serve both as a breeding chamber and as a sleeping chamber. Social weavers live together in monogamy.

Nest building and breeding

When founding a colony, about 100 breeding pairs jointly build a dome-shaped roof made of grass stalks in a tree. They find these grass stalks in the arid regions. In addition, twigs are used as building material. Under this dome-shaped roof, each pair then builds the actual nest chamber, which is then defended against the other breeding pairs. In these nest chambers, one can find up to a hundred pairs, but usually 30 to 40. These communal nests are then usually inhabited for years. The roof is repeatedly reinforced in the meantime. That is why some of these nests have now reached a size of over five meters in diameter. Often, several colonies live in such a tree. The trees are often completely covered and collapse under the weight. Then a new colony is founded. The construction of such a system has several advantages.

Firstly, material is saved for building individual nests and, furthermore, these colonies stick together and defend themselves against enemies as a group. This is naturally the main focus when building such systems. Social weavers do not mind if an empty nesting chamber is occupied by other birds. They do not necessarily have to be weavers; they also accept other birds. The colony also includes small parrots, waxbills and pygmy falcons. For some time now, however, they have also been building communal nests on telephone masts, as these offer special protection against snakes.

Appearance

An adult social weaver has a size of about 14 centimeters. The plumage of both sexes is inconspicuous and kept in greyish brown. They are slightly lighter underneath. The throat and some other feathers, which are edged in white, are black. There is a black spot on the blue-grey beak. This bird is only found in central Namibia and central Kalahari. They are lively and noisy, with different tones. The song sounds like a "chip chip", while an alarm call sounds like a "tip tip". This "tip tip" is uttered when natural enemies, such as snakes, approach the communal nest of the colony.