Spectacled Weaver Ploceus ocularis Scientific name definitions

15–17 cm; 22–32 g. Male nominate race has buffish-brown forehead and crown, yellow nape grading into golden-olive on mantle and back; rump and tail olive-green; upperwing dull brown, remiges with greenish-yellow edges; lores and line through eye black, tapering to a point on ear-coverts; cheek and ear-coverts golden-yellow with some chestnut wash; chin and throat black, extending into oval bib on breast, fringed with chestnut-brown; flanks greenish, lower breast, belly, thighs and undertail-coverts yellow; iris creamy yellow; bill black; legs grey. Female resembles male, but lacks black bib, chestnut-brown wash may extend from chin and throat onto breast. Juvenile is like female, but lacks chestnut wash on throat, line through eye dull greenish, iris dark brown; bill yellow, becoming brown at c. 3 months. Race <em>suaheli­cus</em> is like nominate, but clearly smaller; <em>crocatus</em> has less chestnut on head in both sexes.

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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.

Woodland, from savanna with sparse trees to bushy thickets and wooded valleys, also forest margins and well-vegetated gardens. Absent from lowland and montane forest. To 2000 m on Nyika Plateau in Zambia and Malawi, and to 2200 m in E Africa; seldom below 900 m in Ethiopia.

Diet chiefly insects, including grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera), caterpillars (Lepidoptera), beetles and their larvae (Coleoptera), ants (Formicidae), alate termites (Isoptera); other animal food includes spiders (Araneae), centipedes (Chilopoda), small crabs (Crustacea), and geckos (Gekkonidae) up to 3 cm long. Recorded eating a frog . Plant food taken includes berries of Morus alba, Lantana camara, Hoslundia opposita; whole flowers of Syzygium cordatum, nectar from Tecoma capensis, Schotia and aloes (Aloe). Takes bread and chicken feed in gardens. Stomach contents primarily insects and spiders; one of twelve stomachs examined contained seeds also. Very agile when gleaning in trees, may probe for several minutes, hanging upside-down; uses prying action of bill, and prises off loose bark from trees such as paperbark acacia (Acacia sieberana). Hawks flying termites, returning to perch to eat them. Usually singly or in pairs, also family groups of five individuals noted after breeding season in South Africa, and occasional parties of twelve in E DRCongo (Itombwe). Regularly joins mixed-species flocks in woodland, both in South Africa and in Zimbabwe, associating with woodpeckers (Picidae), bulbuls (Pycnonotidae), scrub-robins (Turdidae), Old World warblers (Sylviidae), bush-shrikes (Malaconotidae) and starlings (Sturnidae); occasionally feeds on ground alongside granivorous ploceids, waxbills (Estrildidae) and buntings (Emberizidae).

Breeds in Dec in Cameroon, Oct in Ethiopia; in DRCongo, Apr–May and Aug–Sept in NE, Sept–Feb in S, Jan–Mar in Katanga; Dec–Apr in Rwanda, Feb–Sept (peaks Apr–May and Aug) in Uganda , Aug in Kenya; Jan, Mar, Apr, Jun–Jul and Oct–Nov in Tanzania; Mar and Aug–Sept in Angola, Sept–Mar in Zambia and Malawi, Sept–Nov in N Mozambique and Oct–Apr in S, Sept–Mar in Zimbabwe and Oct–Jan in South Africa; often more than one brood in a season. Monogamous, with long-term pair-bond. Usually solitary, but often builds at same site in successive seasons, with old nests still present; constructs up to four nests close together in one season. Male sings to female throughout year, adopting "song stretch" posture, reaching forwards while ruffling head and throat feathers. Nest built by male, watched by female until she adds lining prior to egg-laying, occasionally building shared, or female participates irregularly, construction takes 1–3 weeks, nest may be completed long before egg-laying; nest retort-shaped, with entrance tunnel usually 10 cm long (and wide enough for birds to pass each other inside), one occupied nest in Zimbabwe lacked tunnel, some others had tunnel directed horizontally (rather than downwards), very finely woven from thin strips of plant material, often collected some distance away, one nest in South Africa constructed entirely from horsehair, another included nylon fishing line, one built from pine (Pinus) needles; typically suspended from tip of pendulous vegetation, including exotic plants such as Bougainvillea in gardens, 1–7 m (usually 3–4·5 m) above ground, in Okavango Delta (Botswana) attached to side of reed stem, elsewhere suspended from tops of elephant grass, papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) or Phragmites reeds, both sexes strip leaves from supporting stem, leaving tuft of leaves at point of attachment; in palms, may be displaced by larger competitors such as P. baglafecht; of eight nests in a Cameroon mango (Mangifera) plantation, five were in the very few trees (nine out of 203) which housed nests of the wasp Polybioides tabidus, positioned within 30 cm of wasp nests; nest reused for second brood or a new nest built; old nests used for breeding by White-collared Oliveback (Nesocharis ansorgei), Black-tailed Waxbill (Estrilda perreini) and Brown Firefinch (Lagonosticta nitidula). Clutch 1–4 eggs, average 2·6 (South Africa), white or bluish-green with dull grey or reddish-brown spots, sometimes concentrated at thick end (in South Africa, pinkish ground colour common), average size of 113 eggs 21·9 x 14·8 mm (South Africa); incubation by both sexes, sitting very tight (can be captured on nest), nest seldom left unattended, period 13–14 days; for first 1–2 days chicks brooded by female and male brings food, thereafter both adults provision young, initially faecal sacs removed by adults, later young defecate down nest-tunnel, nestling period 15–19 days. Nests occasionally parasitized by Diederik Cuckoo (Chrysosoccyx caprius). In ringing studies, oldest bird recaptured after 10 years.

Not globally threatened. Widespread and often common in modified habitats; scarce to not uncommon in NW part of range. Estimated population in Kruger National Park, in NE South Africa, at least 4000 individuals, whereas estimate for Swaziland more than 20,000, and for C & S Mozambique in excess of 100,000 individuals.