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Black-billed Weaver Ploceus melanogaster Scientific name definitions

Adrian J. F. Craig
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2010

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

14 cm; 20–28 g. Male nominate race has most of head golden-yellow, cheek and ear-coverts washed with orange-brown, sometimes extending to chin and throat, lores black with "spectacle" line extending past eye and ending in point on ear-coverts; chin and throat black, bordered below by narrow yellow band across upper breast (meeting yellow of head); rest of plumage black; iris red to red-brown; bill and legs black. Female resembles male in plumage, except that hind­crown is black, ear-coverts to chin and throat orange-brown; iris red-brown. Juvenile is uniformly dark olive-brown above, chin and throat buff, underparts dull buffy green, iris brown, bill brown, legs grey. Race stephanophorus male has rear half of crown black, lacks yellow breastband, female has crown like male, strong cinnamon tinge on chin and throat.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Races differ clearly in plumage. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Black-billed Weaver (Western) Ploceus melanogaster melanogaster Scientific name definitions

Ploceus melanogaster melanogaster
P. m. melanogaster +1

Distribution

SE Nigeria, SW Cameroon and Bioko.
EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Black-billed Weaver (Eastern) Ploceus melanogaster stephanophorus Scientific name definitions

Ploceus melanogaster stephanophorus
P. m. stephanophorus +1

Distribution

S highlands of South Sudan (Imatong, Dongotoma, Didinga, Acholi); E DRCongo and adjacent W Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi; and E Uganda and adjoining areas of WC Kenya.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Montane forest, from 550 m to 2450 m (mainly 1000–2200 m) in Cameroon and at 1500–3000 m in E Africa. Once encountered in exotic eucalypt (Eucalyptus) plantation.

Movement

Presumed resident; seasonal altitudinal movements possible on some mountains.

Diet and Foraging

Diet primarily insects, including ants (Formicidae), alate termites (Isoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), cicadas (Cicadidae); stomach contents insect fragments, fruits, seeds, and once a small frog. Forages in undergrowth and at middle levels of dense secondary bush; searches low in dense foliage, hanging upside-down to probe clusters of dead leaves; sometimes descends to the ground, where it moves by hopping. Usually singly or in pairs, but at times five or six individuals together, gathering to feed on fruit; sometimes joins mixed-species flocks in Cameroon and DRCongo.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song of clear ringing notes followed by drawn-out snoring sound, "da du da du dzirr", described as similar to that of a sunbird (Nectariniidae). Contact call a harsh, rapid "zhink-zhink-zhink".

Breeding

Breeds in Dec in Nigeria, Oct–Jan (mainly Dec) in Cameroon, Jan on Bioko I, Nov–Mar and Aug in Sudan, Dec–Jan, Oct–Nov and May–Jun in Uganda; Jan–Apr, Jun and Sept in Kenya, Jan–Apr and Sept in DRCongo, and Nov in Rwanda. Monogamous. Solitary nester. Nest retort-shaped, opening below with internal ledge, but no tunnel (one nest on Bioko had tunnel), woven from tough grass stems, lined with finer material, suspended 3–6 m above ground (sometimes over a stream) from tip of branch, tendril of creeper or tree-fern frond, and easily visible; old nests used by Dusky-blue Flycatcher (Bradornis comitatus) and occasionally by Nesocharis shelleyi. Clutch 2 eggs, white with very fine, evenly scattered pinkish-brown spots, 21 x 15 mm (Sudan); incubation by female only, chicks brooded and fed by both sexes; no information on duration of incubation and nestling periods.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Reasonably common in Cameroon Highlands; fairly common to uncommon elsewhere, but reportedly shy and difficult to observe. Old records of race stephanophorus from N Uganda and W Tanzania.
Distribution of the Black-billed Weaver - Range Map
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Distribution of the Black-billed Weaver

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Craig, A. J. F. (2020). Black-billed Weaver (Ploceus melanogaster), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blbwea1.01
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