Gray-headed Social-Weaver Pseudonigrita arnaudi Scientific name definitions

12 cm; 15–26 g. Small, sandy finch-like weaver with pale cap. Nominate race has forehead to nape pale grey, ending in sharp line level with eye and across nape, ring of white feathers around eye; side of head , upperparts and underparts sandy brown; tail blackish-brown, broad dull white or pale sandy tips on outer rectrices, extending to entire inner web of central pair of rectrices; upperwing sandy brown, blackish-brown on primaries and their coverts and on inner webs of secondaries and tertials, small pale grey epaulet; iris red-brown to brown; bill black; legs pinkish to brown. Sexes alike. Juvenile lacks grey cap and white-feathered eyering, is paler and more buffy than adult, with dark brown patch on epaulet, buff margins on rectrices, bill light brown. Race dorsalis differs from nominate in having slate-grey mantle.

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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.

Diet a mixture of grass seeds and insects, including grasshoppers (Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), termites (Isoptera) and caterpillars (Lepidoptera). Nestlings fed with green grass seeds and insects. Forages mostly on ground. Drinks regularly.

Song a high-pitched series of 7–10 elements. Rolling and trilling flight calls and contact calls; loud "cheep" notes in territorial display, single "cheep"  in alarm.

Breeding recorded in all months; peak Aug–Dec in Sudan and Mar–May in Ethiopia and E Africa. Monogamous; sometimes co-operative breeder, e.g. 25–30% of nests at a Kenyan colony had helpers. Colonial , with up to 157 nests, some in fused masses, in single tree; groups of 2–8 nests defended by family group; joint defence against predators and intruders from other colonies. Nest built by both sexes, a compact mass of straight grass stems, two openings in roost nests, one closed off when breeding, lined with feathers, attached to thin branches, often of ant-gall acacia (Acacia drepanolobium), sometimes in other acacias (A. mellifera, A. senegala, A. tortilis); old nests utilized by Cut-throat Finches (Amadina fasciata), and both latter species and Chestnut Sparrow (Passer eminibey) will take over newly built nests. Clutch 3–4 eggs, greenish or blue-white, often plain white with fine olive or black specks concentrated at thick end, sometimes heavily blotched olive-brown and ash-grey, average size of six eggs 19 x 14 mm (Kenya); incubation by both parents (in captivity, 70% of work by female), period 13–14 days; both parents and any helpers present may roost in nest, but only parents incubate; young fed by both parents and by helpers, latter predominantly males (which contribute most when food demand by chicks greatest), nestling period 20 days; fledglings fed by adults for 2–3 weeks after leaving nest. Pairs with helpers raised more young in study in Kenya. Nest predators include snakes, House Crow (Corvus splendens) and Gabar Goshawk (Micronisus gabar). Adult survival from one year to the next was up to 80% in Kenya.