THE South Coast is fortunate to have many thickbilled weavers currently breeding in the river reeds.
The bird’s distribution is from the Gamtoos River up the East Coast through Mozambique and tropics of East Africa.
These weavers disperse widely after breeding then living in evergreen forests and groves of exotic bugweed. They are usually gregarious in flocks of 10 to 50 birds and roost at night in flocks of up to 400 birds.
WATCH:
Foraging for food in the canopy of the forest, thickbilled weavers commute up to 30kms from their breeding grounds. They favour insects, fruit and seeds as well as small molluscs.
The flight is high straight and slightly undulating, chirping and twittering as they go. The males have a song of jumble or simple pleasant chirps in the reedbed colonies.
Of all the different weavers, the thickbilled nest is the neatest. Woven with strips of fine grass, rush, sedge and palm leaves, nests are attached between two to six upright stems of typha and phragmites 1m to 1,5m above water. The photo shows the start of the building of a new nest.
WATCH:
Two to four white to pinkish eggs spotted with red, purple and brown are laid.
Incubation is 14 to 16 days and nestlings remain for about 20 days. The female feeds them on regurgitated seeds, snails and insects.
The Zulu name is enamahloni we-weaver and Afrikaans name is dikbekwewer.
