Southern Masked-Weaver Ploceus velatus Scientific name definitions

The Southern Masked-Weaver or African Masked-Weaver is an inhabitant of sub-Saharan Africa with a short, conical bill. Adult males in breeding plumage have a black face and throat, red eyes, a bright yellow head and underparts, and yellowish-green upperparts, whereas females (and non-breeding males) are dull greenish yellow, streaked darker on the upper back, and the throat is yellowish, becoming off-white on the belly, with duller irides. It nests in colonies, like other weavers, and the nests, again like those of other weavers, are woven of reeds, palms or grasses. The Southern Masked-Weaver appears to have established itself locally in parts of northern Venezuela.

13 cm; male 28–3 g, female 25–34 g. Male breeding has narrow black forehead and black facial mask covering lores, cheek, ear-coverts, chin and throat, extending to a point on breast; crown bright yellow becoming more greenish-olive on nape, mantle and back greenish-olive with faint central streaks on feathers, rump greenish-yellow; tail olive-green, rectrices with narrow yellow margins, upperwing brownish, remiges with yellow margins, wing-coverts with pale yellow margins; breast, belly, flanks, thighs and undertail-coverts bright yellow; iris red; bill black; legs brown to pinkish brown. Male non-breeding has dull yellow supercilium; forehead, crown, cheek, ear-coverts and nape to back yellowish-green, faint streaking on crown and mantle, rump brighter greenish-yellow, wings and tail as on breeding male; chin, throat and breast pale yellow, belly, flanks, thighs and undertail-coverts whitish; iris red to red-brown, upper mandible brown, lower mandible horn-coloured, legs brown. Female breeding resembles non-breeding male, but with brighter yellow wash on underparts, iris brown to red-brown. Non-breeding female more olive on upperparts, paler on throat and breast than non-breeding male. Juvenile resembles non-breeding female, but with brown iris and pale horn-coloured bill.

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.

W & SE Angola, W, S & E Zambia, Malawi and NW Mozambique S to coasts of South Africa. Introduced to São Tomé, apparently from Mozambique; also on S Caribbean islands (Leeward Antilles).

Breeds Dec–Jan (sometimes to Mar) on São Tomé; Nov–Apr in Angola, Oct–Mar in Zambia, Jan–Apr in Malawi, Nov–Feb in Mozambique, Aug–Mar in Zimbabwe, Sept–Mar (peak in Nov) in Botswana; in South Africa, Aug–Oct in Western Cape (winter-rainfall region) and Jul–Mar elsewhere; within a region timing can vary locally depending on rainfall; probably multi-brooded, individual female making several nesting attempts in a year. Polygynous, with two or three females present in the territory simultaneously and up to twelve females acquired by one male during a season. Commonly, one male occupies an isolated tree, particularly in urban habitats; small colonies of up to nine males also recorded, and in Malawi sometimes in mixed colonies with P. intermedius. Male displays at nest by singing while fanning wings and spreading tail. Nest kidney-shaped, with semi-circular entrance below facing ground, no entrance tunnel, tightly woven by male from grass, roofed with green acacia (Acacia) leaves, lined by female with grass seedheads and feathers (availability of suitable nesting material may restrict nest-building activity); often placed at tips of branches over dry land, seldom in reeds, sometimes in tree over water; in Namibia nests sometimes placed near those of wasps (species of Belanogaster, Polistes and Icaria), and in Malawi may be near nests of Belonogaster wasps; in Zimbabwe single males nesting below nest structures of Wahlberg's Eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi); one male apparently built 52 nests during single breeding season; unused nests demolished, with new nests built at same site or, in some cases, nest only partly destroyed and old material incorporated into new structure; nests sometimes taken over by the climbing mouse Dendromus longicaudatus, and used by other bird species e.g. Red-headed Finch (Amadina erythrocephala), Zebra Waxbill (Amandava subflava), Blue-breasted Cordon-bleu (Uraeginthus angolensis), Bronze Mannikin (Spermestes cucullata), Cape Sparrow (Passer melanurus), and Sporopipes squamifrons; old nest used for roosting by Cape Penduline-tit (Anthoscopus minutus). Clutch 2–4 eggs (mean 2·5 in South Africa), white, pink, pale green or blue, either plain or speckled, spotted and blotched with grey, brown, red or purple, average size of 389 eggs 20·9 x 14·5 mm (South Africa); incubation by female, period c. 14 days; chicks usually fed by female only, nestling period average 16 days; male feeds nestlings or fledglings only rarely, but sometimes feeds second brood. In S Africa 6–12% of nests parasitized by Diederik Cuckooo (Chrysococcyx caprius); in one case, cuckoo attacked and apparently killed by weaver. Fledging success over two seasons at colony in South Africa 63% and 55%, respectively, at another colony 50%; nests raided by African Harrier-hawk (Polyboroides typus), Gabar Goshawk (Micronisus gabar), Black Kite (Milvus migrans) of yellow-billed race parasitus, African Grey Hornbill (Lophoceros nasutus), Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea), and vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), as well as snakes such as boomslang (Dispholidus typus) and common egg-eating snake (Dasypeltis scabra); in addition, fly maggots cause death of some chicks, and Common Fiscal (Lanius collaris) took newly fledged chicks. First breeding by female in first year, male from second year onwards. Maximum recorded longevity in Malawi at least 12·5 years, and individuals recaptured at colonies in South Africa after 7–11 years; one captive survived for 23 years; mean annual survival of ringed individuals in South Africa 51–57% in different studies.