Speke's Weaver Ploceus spekei Scientific name definitions

15 cm; male 34–43 g, female 28–37 g. Male has forehead, crown and nape golden-yellow, passing into olive-green on nape; mantle and back feathers blackish with yellow fringes (mottled appearance), rump dull greenish-yellow, tail olive-green; upperwing dark brown, remiges with dull yellow margins, tertials and wing-coverts with broad yellow borders forming wingbars; lores, cheek, ear-coverts, chin and throat black, black extending as bib onto upper breast, where narrowly fringed with chestnut-brown; rest of breast, and flanks, belly, thighs and undertail-coverts golden yellow; iris yellowish-white; bill black; legs dusky to greyish pink. Female has forehead, crown and nape olive with faint streaking, mantle olive with dark central streaks on feathers, rump pale olive, tail olive; wings brown, pale olive-yellow edges on remiges, tertials and greater coverts, pale cream edges on median coverts forming wingbar; cheek and ear-coverts pale olive, no supercilium; chin and throat creamy white, breast and flanks buff, belly, thighs and undertail-coverts white; during breeding much yellower below (unclear if this is the result of plumage abrasion or moult); iris pale brown to pale grey; bill dull brownish above, paler pinkish below; legs greyish-pink. Juvenile has forehead, crown and nape plain olive-brown, mantle and back brown with heavy streaking, rump plain brown, wings and tail olive-green, broad buffy margins on wing-coverts, yellow supercilium, chin and throat yellowish, underparts buff, whitish on belly, iris grey-brown, bill grey-brown.

C, S & E Ethiopia, N & E Somalia, and SW & C Kenya S to NC Tanzania.