Clarke's Weaver Ploceus golandi Scientific name definitions

13 cm; male 23–27 g, female 21–25 g. Male has black head  to back and down to breast, rump bright olive-green with yellow feather fringes; tail dark olive-green; upperwing blackish-brown, broad yellow margins on wing-coverts  (forming two prominent bars on folded wing); black breast rather sharply demarcated from yellow belly, increasingly mingled with white on rear underparts, thighs black; iris dark brown; bill black; legs light brown. Female has forehead, crown and nape bright olive-green, narrow yellow supercilium; mantle and back olive-green with black central streaks, rump plain olive-green, tail dark olive-green, wings blackish-brown with yellow margins on wing-coverts; lores, cheek and ear-coverts dull yellow, chin, throat and breast bright yellow, olive-green patch on side of breast; belly and flanks white, streaked with yellow, thighs grey with yellow streaks, undertail-coverts white; iris brown, bill horn-grey. Juvenile resembles female in pattern, but dull greenish above with little streaking, whitish washed with yellow below, bill brown.

Diet insects such as beetles (Coleoptera), caterpillars (Lepidoptera) and scale insects (Coccoidea); also fruits of Loranthus, Brachystegia spicifomis. In the only breeding colony so far discovered all food items brought to the nests were insects, and most (c. 60% of items) were larvae of varying sizes; other insects observed included grasshoppers and crickets (1 Jackson, C.H.W., Ng’weno, F., Mwambire, J., Mwachongo, J., Baya, A., Changawa, P., Garama, J., Kenga, S., Katisho, S., Barisa, S., Thuva, K., Wario, P., Finch, B., Ekesa, S. and Katana, G. (2015). First recorded breeding of Clarke’s Weaver Ploceus golandi. Scopus. 35: 1–10. Close ). Forages mostly in canopy. Feeding flocks of up to 30, occasionally more than 100 individuals. Sometimes in mixed-species flocks with Common Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus cyanomelas), Eastern Black-headed Oriole (Oriolus larvatus), Black Cuckoo-shrike (Campephaga flava) and P. bicolor; often associated with Retz's (Prionops retzii) and Chestnut-fronted Helmet-shrikes (Prionops scopifrons).

Song not described. Chattering and sizzling sounds, or insistent "sss sss" calls from foraging flocks; sharp "chip chip" calls in flight.

No definite information until recently, being speculated that nests might be solitary, high in trees. In 2013 the first breeding colony was found in the Dakatcha Woodlands, NW of Malindi, where c. 400–500 nests were concentrated in a small area of a tiny wetland (80 m × 30 m); nests were coarsely woven with a low side entrance, placed in the tops of tall sedges (Cyperus exaltatus) standing in water; timescale for nest-building, egg-laying, hatching and fledging was only c. 24–30 days in total (adults were displaying and nest-building on 23 Mar, and feeding young in the nest on 7 Apr, the colony being abandoned by 19 Apr) (1 Jackson, C.H.W., Ng’weno, F., Mwambire, J., Mwachongo, J., Baya, A., Changawa, P., Garama, J., Kenga, S., Katisho, S., Barisa, S., Thuva, K., Wario, P., Finch, B., Ekesa, S. and Katana, G. (2015). First recorded breeding of Clarke’s Weaver Ploceus golandi. Scopus. 35: 1–10. Close ). Eggs and nestlings undescribed. In addition, juveniles recorded in Jan–Feb, Apr and Jul–Aug, and male in breeding condition in Sept, suggesting that the species may be somewhat opportunistic and breed during both rain periods, Mar–Jun and Nov–Dec (1 Jackson, C.H.W., Ng’weno, F., Mwambire, J., Mwachongo, J., Baya, A., Changawa, P., Garama, J., Kenga, S., Katisho, S., Barisa, S., Thuva, K., Wario, P., Finch, B., Ekesa, S. and Katana, G. (2015). First recorded breeding of Clarke’s Weaver Ploceus golandi. Scopus. 35: 1–10. Close ). No furher information.

ENDANGERED. Restricted range species: present in East African coastal forests EBA. Global population estimated in early 1980s at fewer than 4000 individuals, and no assessment since then; presumed declining. Has very small and fragmented range, within which woodland clearance for cultivation continues, accompanied by habitat modification through selective tree-cutting. Most records from Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve, where area of c. 350 km² occupied by this species; recorded also farther N, in Dakatcha area (N of R Sabaki, near Malindi), and from E edge of Galana Ranch E to Marafa and Hadu. Possibly not a breeder in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, where appears to be largely absent during Apr–Jul, but returns with young in Aug; thereafter observed regularly until Nov, but few records Dec–Feb; the first known breeding colony was found in Mar 2013 in the small Arbamukenge wetland, in the N section of Dakatcha (1 Jackson, C.H.W., Ng’weno, F., Mwambire, J., Mwachongo, J., Baya, A., Changawa, P., Garama, J., Kenga, S., Katisho, S., Barisa, S., Thuva, K., Wario, P., Finch, B., Ekesa, S. and Katana, G. (2015). First recorded breeding of Clarke’s Weaver Ploceus golandi. Scopus. 35: 1–10. Close ), and another site was found in the same area in May 2015 (2 Demey, R., Kirwan, G.M. and Lack, P. (2015). Africa Round-up. Good news for Clarke’s Weaver. Bull. Afr. Bird Club. 22(2): 144. Close ). Thought to have bred in area N of R Sabaki in 1994 (many juveniles observed near Dakatcha in mid-Jul). Woodland clearance the main threat to the species; hilltops at Dakatcha being extensively cleared for fruit cultivation, and in same area woodland being damaged by cutting for fuelwood and for carving material; at Arabuko-Sokoke, continuing forest degradation through illegal logging and licensed wood removal a serious problem, and some political pressure for removal of protection of the Kararacha-Mpendakula section. Main stronghold considered to be Arabuko-Sokoke forest, where a long-term conservation project involving local communities is underway.