Baya Weaver

Taxobox
name = Baya Weaver
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = Male of race "philippinus" displaying at nest


image2_caption = Female of race "philippinus"
image2_width = 230px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Ploceidae
genus = "Ploceus"
species = "P. philippinus"
binomial = "Ploceus philippinus"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1766 )The Baya Weaver ("Ploceus philippinus") is a weaver found across South and Southeast Asia. They inhabit grassland, cultivated areas, scrub and secondary growths usually near fresh or brackish water. They are widespread and common within their distribution area but are prone to local seasonal movements. [IUCN2006|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=53217|title=Ploceus philippinus|downloaded=12 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern] Despite their species name, they are not found in the Philippines. Three geographical races are recognized. The race "philippinus" is found through much of mainland India. The race "burmanicus" is found eastwards into Southeast Asia. A third race "travancoreensis" is darker above and found in southwest India.Rasmussen, P.C. and Anderton, J.C. 2005 The Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Smithsonian Edition and Lynx Edicions.]

Description

These are sparrow sized (15 cm) and in their non-breeding plumage, both males and females resemble female house sparrows. They have a stout conical bill and a short square tail. Non-breeding males and females look alike, dark brown streaked fulvous buff above, plain (unstreaked) whitish fulvous below, eyebrows long buffy, bill is horn coloured and no mask. Breeding males have a bright yellow crown, dark brown mask, blackish brown bill, upper parts are dark brown streaked with yellow, with a yellow breast and cream buff below. [cite book | last = Salim | first = Ali | authorlink = | title = The Book of Indian Birds, Third Edition | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2002 | pages = 64,283
id = ISBN 0-19-566523-6]

Local Names

"Tokora, Tokora chorai" (Assamese); "Baya", "Son-Chiri" (Hindi);"Baya Chadei" (Oriya); "Sugaran" (Marathi); "Tempua" (Malay); "Sughari" (Gujarati); "Babui" (Bengali); "Parsupu pita", "Gijigadu"/"Gijjigadu" (Telugu); "Gijuga" (Kannada); "Thukanam kuruvi" (Malayalam);"Thukanan-kuruvi" (Tamil); "Wadu-kurulla", "Tatteh-kurulla", "Goiyan-kurulla" (Sinhala); "sa-gaung-gwet", "mo-sa" (Myanmar); "Bijra" (Hoshiarpur); "Suyam" (Chota Nagpur).

Habits

Baya Weavers are social and gregarious birds. They forage in flocks for seeds, both on the plants and on the ground. Flocks fly in close formations, often performing complicated manouvres. They are known to glean paddy and other grain in harvested fields, and occasionally damage ripening crops and are therefore sometimes considered as serious pests. [Sengupta,S (1974) The Common Baya ("Ploceus philipinus") - a serious pest of agriculture. Current Science 43(4):124-125.] They roost in reed-beds bordering waterbodies. They depend on wild grasses such as Guinea Grass ("Panicum maximum") as well as crops like rice for both their food and nesting material. [ cite web
last = Ria | first = Tan | title = baya weaver (ploceus philippinus): info fact sheet, photos | url = http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Ploceus_philippinus.htm
accessdate = 2006-09-28 ] They also feed on insects. Their seasonal movements are governed by food availability.

They are occasionally known to descend to the ground and indulge in dust bathing. [Ganguli, Usha (1968) Dust bathing by Common Baya ("Ploceus philippinus"). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 65(3):780.]

Breeding

The breeding season of the Baya Weavers is during the monsoons. They nest in colonies of up to 20-30, close to the source of food, nesting material and water. The nests are often built hanging over water from palm trees [Davis, T.A. (1985) Palms are preferred hosts for Baya Weaverbird colonies. Principes 29, 115-123.] and often thorny "Acacia"s and in some cases from telephone wires. [Venkataramani,K (1981): Nests of Weaver Birds on telegraph wires. NLBW. 21(9-10), 18.] [Subramanya,S (1982): Baya nests on telegraph wires. NLBW. 22(3-4), 6.] Baya Weavers are best known for their elaborately woven nests. These pendulous nests are retort shaped, with a central nesting chamber and a long vertical tube that leads to a side entrance to the chamber. The nests are woven with long strips of paddy leaves, rough grasses and long strips torn from palm fronds. Each strip can be between 20-60cm in length. A male bird is known to make up to 500 trips to complete a nest. The birds use their strong beaks to strip and collect the strands, and to weave and knot them while building their nests. Abandoned nests are sometimes used by mice [Akhtar,S Asad; Tiwari,JK (1992) Brood of the Indian Field Mouse "Mus booduga" in an abandoned Baya nest. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 89(2):245.] and other birds such as Munias. [Mishra,Veer Vaibhav (2001) Munias accept abandoned nest of Baya. Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 41(1):13.] [Regupathy, D.; Davis,T.A. (1984) Mouse, a nest-parasite of Baya Weaver Bird ("Ploceus philippinus" L.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 81(1):200-202.]

Histochemical studies have shown increased lipid metabolism in the crown region of male Baya during the breeding season. Lipids are known to be involved in the transport of the yellow carotenoid pigments that form the crown and are subsequently metabolized. [Narasimhacharya, A. V. R. L. and V. C. Kotak (1989) Histochemical observations on the crown skin of male baya: Lipids, lipase and phosphomonoesterases. J. Biosci. 14(4):385-390.]

Breeding behavior

During the breeding season the males begin building nests. The nests are partially built when the males display to passing females by flapping their wings and calling while hanging to their nests. The call of the Baya males which is normally a sparrow-like "chit-chit" is followed by a long-drawn "chee-ee "in the breeding season. The females inspect and choose a nest before signalling their approval to a male. Once a male and a female are paired, the male goes on to complete the nest including the entrance tunnel, males are solely incharge of building the nests, though their female partners may join in giving the finishing touches. Studies have shown that nest location is more important than nest structure for the female decision making. [Suhel Quader (2006) What makes a good nest? Benefits of nest choice to female Baya weavers ("Ploceus philippinus"). The Auk 123(2):475–486 [http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/sq210/Quader_2006_Auk_NestingSuccessWeavers.pdf] ]

The males are polygynous, mating with 2 to 3 females one after another. Males build many partial nests and start attracting females. A male finishes the nest to its completion only after finding a mate, after mating the female lays about 2 to 4 white eggs and incubates them. The females are solely responsible for incubating and bringing up the brood. After mating with a female the male goes on to woo more females with its other nests. Females are known to lay their eggs in the nests of other females. [Dhindsa,M.S. (1990) Intraspecific brood parasitism in the Baya Weaverbird ("Ploceus philippinus"). Bird Behaviour. 8, 111-113.]

In culture

A widespread local myth is that the Baya uses fireflies stuck to the nest walls with mud to light up the interior of the nest at night. However dry clay is known to be found in the nests of Baya weavers. It is said that they collect blobs of mud when wet, and stick them inside the dome near the egg-chamber. It is also said that they use lumps of dry clay inserted around the rim to stabilise the nests in strong winds. [Wood, C. A. 1926 The nest of the Baya weaver bird. The Auk. 43(3):295-302 [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v043n03/p0295-p0302.pdf] ] [Davis,T. Antony (1973) Mud and dung plastering in Baya nests. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 70(1):57-71.]

In earlier times, the Baya Weaver was trained by street performers in India for entertainment. They were trained to fire toy cannons, string beads, pick up coins and other objects. These uses have been noted from the time of Akbar.

Cited references

Other references

* Bisht, M.; Chandola-Saklani, A. (1992) Short-day experience is not a preprequisite for the termination of photorefractoriness in the reproductive cycle of Baya Weaver, "Ploceus philippinus". Journal of Biosciences (Bangalore) 17(1):29-34.
* Dhindsa, M. S.; Sandhu, P. S. (1988) Response of the Baya Weaverbird ("Ploceus philippinus") to eggs of the White-throated Munia ("Lonchura malabarica"): relation to possible incipient brood parasitism. Zoologischer Anz. 220, 216-222.
* Edwards, O. C. (1983) The nest of the Baya Weaver-Bird ("Ploceus philippinus"). Architect supreme. Mayura 4(3):17-19.
* Mathew,DN (1971) Ecology and biology of the Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus". Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Bombay, Bombay.
* Sharma, Satish Kumar (1985) A study of qualitative aspect of abnormal nesting in Baya Weaver Bird the "Ploceus philippinus" and "P. benghalensis". J. Southern Forest Ranger's College 61:50-54.
* Singh, T. G. M. (1980) An observation on the behaviour of Indian Baya ("Ploceus phillipinus") in captivity during solar eclipses. Mayura 1(2):20-21.
* Thapliyal, J. P.; Tewary, P. D. (1964) Effect of light on the pituitary, gonad and plumage pigmentation in the Avadavat ("Estrilda amandava") and Baya Weaver ("Ploceus philippinus"). Proc. Zool. Soc. London 142, 67-71.
* Vardhani, B. P.; Rao, P. S.; Srimannarayana,G. (1992) The efficacy of certain plant extracts as repellents against House Sparrow, "Passer domesticus" and Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus". J. appl. zool. Res. 3(2):193-194.
* Abdulali,Humayun; Ambedkar, V. C. (1984) Some notes on the breeding of the Common Baya ("Ploceus philippinus"). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 81(3):701-702.
* Alexander, Horace (1972) Nest building of the Baya Weaver Bird. Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 12(9):12.
* Ali, Mir Hamid; Singh, T.G. Manmohan; Banu, Aziz; Rao, M. Anand; Janak, A.T. Sainath (1978) Observations on the food and feeding habits of Baya Weaver "Ploceus philippinus". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 75(Supp):1198-1204.
* Ali, S. (1931) The nesting habits of the Baya ("Ploceus philippinus"). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 34(4):947-964.
* Ali, Salim; Ambedkar, Vijaykumar C (1957) Further notes on the Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus" Linn. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 54(3):491-502.
* Ali, Salim; Ambedkar, Vijaykumar C. (1956) Notes on the Baya Weaver Bird, "Ploceus philippinus" Linn. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 53(3):381-389.
* Ambedkar, V.C. (1969) Nests of the Baya, "Ploceus philippinus" (Linnaeus) on telegraph wires. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 66(3):624.
* Ambedkar, V.C. (1978) Abnormal nests of the Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus" (Linn.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 75(Supp):1205-1211.
* Ambedkar, V. C. (1958) Notes on the Baya: Breeding season 1957. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 55(1):100-106.
* Ambedkar, V. C. (1972) The Baya ["Ploceus philippinus" (Linn.)] feeding nestlings with butterflies. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 69(3):653-654.
* Anon. (1981) Multiple Baya nests. Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 21(1):2-4.
* Choudhury, B.C. (1984) Nesting adaptibility of Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus". Mayura 5(4):91.
* Crook, John Hurrell (1960) Studies on the reproductive behaviour of the Baya Weaver. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 57(1):1-44.
* Davis, T. A. (1985) "Blind" or "closed" nests of Baya Weaverbird. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 82(3):658-660.
* Davis, T. Antony (1974) Selection of nesting trees and the frequency of nest visits by Baya weaverbird. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 71(3):356-366.
* Davis, T. A. (1966) Nesting Behaviour of the Baya ("Ploceus philippinus", L.). (Technical Report No. Nat 4/66.) Research and Training School, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. 28 pages.
* Davis, T.A. (1971) Baya Weaverbird nesting on human habitations. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 68(1):246-248.
* Dewar, Douglas (1909) The nesting habits of the Baya. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 19(3):627-634.
* George, N.J. (1973) Baya ("Ploceus philippinus") feeding on frogs. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 70(2):381-382.
* Gupta, K.K. (1995) A note on Baya, "Ploceus philippinus" nesting on Krishnachuda ("Delonix regia") tree. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 92(1):124-125.
* Khacher, Lavkumar (1977) Note on the Baya Weaver bird "Ploceus philippinus" (Linn.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 74(3):533-534.
* Kirkpatrick, K.M. (1952) Baya ("Ploceus philippinus" Linn.) nests on telegraph wires. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 50(3):657.
* Mathew, D.N. (1972) The ecology of the Baya in Rajampet, Cuddapah Dt., A.P. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 69(1):188-191.
* Mathew, D.N. (1977) Moult in the Baya Weaver "Ploceus philippinus" Linnaeus. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 74(2):233-245.
* Mohan, D. (1991) Common baya weaver bird - nest building habits. Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 31(9-10):2-4.
* Mukherjee, A.K.; Saha, B.C. (1974) Study on the stomach contents of Common Baya, "Ploceus philippinus" (Linnaeus). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 71(2):308.
* Pandey, Deep Narayan (1991) Nest site selection by Baya "Ploceus philippinus" (Linn.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 88(3):458.
* Punde, A.B. (1912) Migration of the Baya ("Ploceus baya"). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(2):675-676.
* Serrao, J.S. (1971) Nesting of the Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus". Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 11(10):11.
* Sharma, S.K. (1995) Nests of Baya used as filling fibre in southern Rajasthan. Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 35(3):57-58.
* Sharma, Satish Kumar (1987) Host plants used by Baya Weaver Bird ("Ploceus philippinus" Linn.) for nesting in eastern Rajasthan (Breeding period 1982). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 84(1):218-220.
* Sharma, Satish Kumar (1988) Buttressed nests of Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus" (Linn.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 85(2):432.
* Sharma, Satish Kumar (1989) Host plants used by Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus" (L.) for nesting in Udaipur District, Rajasthan. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 86(3):453-454.
* Sharma, Satish Kumar (1990) Orientation of nest colonies by Baya Weaver Birds. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 87(3):454-455.
* Sharma, Satish Kumar (1991) Nests of Baya Weaver Birds "Ploceus philippinus" and wintering Arthropods. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 88(2):289-290.
* Sharma, Satish Kumar (1995) A study of abnormal nests of Baya Weaver Bird "Ploceus philippinus" (Linn.) in Rajasthan. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 92(1):67-76.
* Sidhartha, D. (1981) Baya nests in October. Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 21(1):8.
* Stairmand, D.A. (1971) Pre-monsoon breeding of the Baya "Ploceus philippinus". Newsl. for Birdwatchers. 11(9):12.
* Thapar, V. (1985) The Baya. The India Magazine 5(12):64.