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Brown-capped Weaver Ploceus insignis Scientific name definitions

Adrian J. F. Craig
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 18, 2013

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

14 cm; 26–30 g. Male has forehead, crown and nape chestnut-brown, lores, cheek, ear-coverts, chin and throat black; upperparts yellow, mantle with narrow black feather bases showing through; upper­wing and tail black, tertials and wing-coverts with narrow yellow fringes; breast golden-yellow, some orange along border with throat; belly, flanks and undertail-coverts golden-yellow, thighs yellow with greenish wash; iris red; bill black; legs brown. Female has entire head to chin and throat black, upperparts yellow with some black feathers (producing mottled effect), wings and tail black, underparts golden-yellow, sometimes some chestnut wash on breast; bare parts as for male. Juvenile male has head and nape black with paler feather tips (tips reddish-brown on crown, yellow elsewhere), wing-coverts with broad pale margins, throat and underparts yellow, some black feathers on throat, reddish-brown band on upper breast, green wash on flanks, both iris and bill brown; young female has black head feathers tipped olive-green, entirely yellow below.

Systematics History

Birds from Bioko described as race unicus, but appear inseparable from those on mainland; similarly, proposed differences between W African and E African populations not supported in examination of museum material. Treated as monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

SE Nigeria (Obudu and Mambilla Plateaux), SW Cameroon and Bioko; S South Sudan (Imatong Mts and Dongatona Mts), E DRCongo, W Rwanda, W Burundi, SW & E Uganda, W Kenya and N & W Tanzania; W Angola (Gabela, in Cuanza Sul); recorded once in NE Gabon and SW Congo.

Habitat

Tall montane forest and bamboo forest, also secondary forests, gallery forest and coffee plantations; mainly at 1700–2800 m, sometimes as low as 850 m. Often in areas with open canopy and dense understorey vegetation.

Movement

Presumed resident.

Diet and Foraging

Details of diet primarily from stomach contents; includes insects, such as caterpillars (Lepidoptera), and fruit. Moves at all levels in forest, hopping along boles and thicker lateral branches in canopy, probing exposed bark and epiphytes, using prying actions with bill; foraging actions like those of a tit (Paridae). Feeds solitarily or in pairs, and in family parties of three or four individuals, often in mixed-species flocks. In Gabon, once encountered in lowland forest alongside P. preussi and P. dorsomaculatus.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song reported as having several cadences, with descending whistles followed by a swizzle, "chi-bo-hu-zwizzzz-zha", reminiscent of that of P. bicolor; other forms rendered as "twit chirrrr chirrrrchirrrr chirrr twitchirrr" and "zair twit zair zair zair zair twit". Contact call, both from perch and in flight, is a piercing "siip siip".

Breeding

Recorded in Mar and Dec in Cameroon, Mar and Oct in Sudan, Jan in E DRCongo (Itombwe), Aug–Sept and Dec in Uganda, and Jan–Apr and Nov in Kenya. Presumably monogamous. Solitary nester. Male uses short song in courtship away from nest, also sings when female enters nest. Nest retort-shaped, with long spout, one woven from tendrils of convolvulus creeper, 4–6·5 m above ground and fixed to underside of branch or at tip of branch, often above forest track or clearing. Clutch 2 eggs, pale blue with sparse brown spots, average size of four eggs 22·4 x 15·5 mm (Cameroon). No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Fairly common to locally not uncommon in much of range; uncommon in Angola (recorded only from Gabela). One record from NE Gabon. Restricted to vulnerable habitat of montane forest, and hence distribution very patchy, but currently still widely distributed.
Distribution of the Brown-capped Weaver - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Brown-capped Weaver

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Craig, A. J. F. (2020). Brown-capped Weaver (Ploceus insignis), 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.brcwea1.01
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