Speke's Weaver

Taxobox
name = Speke's Weaver
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1


image_width = 200px
image_caption = Adult male
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Ploceidae
genus = "Ploceus"
genus_authority = Cuvier, 1816
species = "P. spekei "
binomial = "Ploceus spekei "
binomial_authority = (Heuglin, 1861)

Speke's Weaver, "Ploceus spekei", is a familiar East African songbird.

The eyes are pale and the bill is on the large side for a weaver. Unlike many weavers, it has the same plumage all year. The adult male is yellow with black throat (edged rusty), face, and bill, and variable black mottling on the back. The adult female's upperparts are dull olive-gray with dusky brown streaks; the underparts are pale yellow, whiter on the belly and grayer on the flanks. The juvenile is similar but duller.cite book | last = Zimmerman | first = Dale A. | coauthors = Turner, Donald A.; Pearson, David J. | year = 1999 | title = Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania | publisher = Princeton University Press | pages = pp. 248, 536, 541 | id = ISBN 0-69101022-9 |]

The song is variable; one version is transcribed as "pew…pew…tew, chinkichi-chewchew-skerinkitsitew". Calls include harsh chatter at the nest and "a sharp "tseep"!"

This species nests in colonies or occasionally singly. The nest, often woven in an acacia, is spherical with a short entrance tube opening sideways or downward. Many grass stems project sloppily, sometimes obscuring the shape. It nests in both the short rainy season and the middle of the long rainy season. Typical clutches comprise four eggs, which are unmarked deep blue, somewhat pointed at both ends, 24 to 26 mm long and 15 to 17 mm wide. [cite journal | last = Fuggles-Couchman | journal = Tanganyika Notes and Records | year = 1946 | title = Further Notes on Nesting Habits and the Breeding Seasons of Some Tanganyika Birds | first = NR | issue = 21 | pages = p. 99 | url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=0jFKxjpjYRusJ-aY65&id=IP0KAAAAIAAJ&q=Tanzania+Notes+and+Records+Speke's+weaver&dq=Tanzania+Notes+and+Records+Speke's+weaver&pgis=1 | accessdate = 2007-04-08 | doi = 10.1177/002198946900400106.]

Speke's Weaver is found in northern and eastern Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya (mostly the central highlands), and northeastern Tanzania.cite web | title = Speke's Weaver | publisher = Kenya Birds | url = http://www.kenyabirds.org.uk/weaver-sp.htm | accessdate = 2007-04-08] It inhabits savanna, bush, agricultural land, and towns. In parts of its range it is common, notably the densely populated area of Nairobi and environs, where it visits bird feeders.

This bird was named in honor of John Speke. [cite book | last = Beolen | first = Bo | coauthors = Watkins, Michael | title = Whose Bird? Common Bird Names and the People They Commemorate | year = 2004 | publisher = Yale University Press | pages = p. 308 | id = ISBN 0-300-10359-X ]

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern