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Vieillot's Black Weaver - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name: Vieillot's Black Weaver; Chestnut-and-black Weaver

Photo © by the late Jan Van den Broeck
Entebbe, Uganda, March 2008
Ploceus nigerrimus

Identification

Length 15-16 cm.

  • Adult male: A black weaver with a pale yellow eye.
  • Adult female: Dark olive, streaked darker above, with pale eyes.

Similar species

Maxwell's Black Weaver has a pale grey eye, is slightly smaller, and is found in the forest canopy.

Distribution

Female
Photo © by dacol
Busimba, Western Uganda, July 2015

Africa: Eastern Nigeria to Cameroon, southern Sudan, western Kenya, western Tanzania and southwest from there to Angola.

Taxonomy

This species was formerly combined with Chestnut-and-black Weaver into Vieillot's Weaver.

Subspecies

This is a monotypic species[1].

Habitat

Forest edge, secondary growth and villages.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of insects such as grasshoppers, flying ants, termites, caterpillars and butterflies.

Breeding

They breed in colonies, often with Village Weaver.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
  3. Sinclair I & Ryan P. 2003. Birds of Africa south of the Sahara. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0620207299
  4. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved October 2015)

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

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