The black-headed weaver (''Ploceus melanocephalus''), also known as yellow-backed weaver, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Ploceidae Ploceidae is a family of small passerine birds, many of which are called weavers, weaverbirds, weaver finches and bishops. These names come from the nests of intricately woven vegetation created by birds in this family. In most recent classifica ...

Taxonomy and systematics

''P. victoriae'' Ash, 1986 is now thought to be a hybrid between ''P. melanocephalus'' and '' P. castanops''.

Description

Breeding males have a black head and yellow nuchal collar, which is absent in the

Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a population ...

and golden-backed weavers. It also differs from the latter species and village weaver by its plain, greenish mantle plumage. The pale yellow underpart plumage is suffused with a variable amount of chestnut. The female and non-breeding male lack the black head, and resemble a female masked weaver, except that they have dark eyes and a darker bill. Their buffy breast plumage also distinguishes them from non-breeding golden-backed weavers.

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in West, Central, and East Africa, but it has also been introduced to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

. It is found in

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

and similar habitats, typically near water. It often lives on an Acacia tree 3 meter away from land to prevent predation.

Gallery

Black-headed Weaver - Uganda MG 1449 (22432106578).jpg, Male displaying in papyrus marsh Yellow backed weaver1.jpg, Male bird in Queen Elizabeth N.P., Uganda Ploceus melanocephalus MHNT 228 RdN Sénégal.jpg, Clutch of eggs from Senegal ( MHNT)

References

black-headed weaver Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa black-headed weaver black-headed weaver Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Ploceidae-stub