Mystery Bird: Black-headed Weaver, Ploceus melanocephalus

grrlscientist — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:59:20 +0000

tags: Lake Victoria Weaver, Victoria Masked-Weaver, Entebbe Weaver, Gambian Black-headed Weaver, Yellow-backed Weaver, Yellow-collared Weaver, Black-headed Weaver, Ploceus melanocephalus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz

~~[Mystery bird]~~ Black-headed Weaver, also known by numerous other common names, including the Yellow-collared (or Yellow-backed) Weaver, Gambian Black-headed Weaver, Victoria Masked-weaver, Lake Victoria Weaver, or the Entebbe Weaver, Ploceus melanocephalus, photographed Ndutu Safari Lodge, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]

Image: Dan Logen, 21 January 2010 [larger view].

Nikon D300, 600 mm lens with 1.4 Extender, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec.

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Can you identify a North American import that is classified into the same taxonomic family as this African species? The House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, is a member of the same taxonomic family; Ploceidae (weaver sparrows).

Review all mystery birds to date.

grrlscientist Sun, 05/02/2010 - 03:59

looks like the masked weavers we have here in south africa...probably a male because of the red eye (Ploceus velatus?)

If it's a Weaver (and it looks like pictures on the net) as Brandi says, then it's a member of the family Ploceidae, no?

The only member of that family my Sibley's seems to show in the Americas is an old world finch, the Orange Bishop. (Gosh, what a great name for a bird.) Sibley's says it's got a small population in California. But I couldn't find anything in the same genus.

This bird reminds me of a small-town artisan in cloth manufacture.Or its alternative name is the spotty apprentice of the first.

Baby Big Bird.

oops, my bad. i meant to say the same taxonomic family, not genus. i guess the cold medications are rotting my brain out, after 8 days of raging illness (with no end in sight).

Hope you feel better soon, GrrlScientist!

A right-winger might say this of the Speaker of the House.

You can add Village to your list as well,Grrl.

Has P. cucullatus been absorbed into P. melanocephalus? I would have identified this as the former.

Hello Carel, Yes there seems to be some confusion here. The Birds of Kenya and N. Tanzania, Zimmerman et al. gives Black-headed or Village Weaver as "cucullatus" and "melanocephalus" as Yellow-backed. I think the latter is out-of-range here as it is confined to the Victoria Lake basin. My bad, I didn't read Grrl's latin name (I mean for the bird, not Grrl herself!) as I just saw Black-headed. I agree this is "cucullatus" by the amount of black in the back feathers, hence my post about Village.