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Village weaver

Ploceus cucullatus

Photo by Mark Bolnik
Published on Project Noah
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-24.0495, 29.2558

Field Notes

Description:

Small yellow bird (about sparrow size) spotted in thicket near Polokwane, South Africa. Stout bill suggests seadeater.

Habitat:

Riverine thicket

Species ID Suggestions

Village weaver

Ploceus cucullatus

Comments (8)

I worked out the photo by increasing the light in shadows, and overall lights - this is definitely a weaver. Beside this massif bill, eyes are red. The bird is moulting, and we see the black mask starting to appear... seeing the range, I could think of two possibilities: Southern Masked weaver (Ploceus velatus) or Village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus). My bet goes to Village weaver, because of that massif, slightly curved and somewhat elongated bill... The bll is too massif for a cuckoo-finch whose bill looks more like a finch bill or canary.
The Cuckoo-finch is a weaver - a parasitic one. Not 100% sure about the ID though, so any ratification would be great! :)
No, this bill, to me this looks like typical weaver's bill... Shape is weaver's, and on top of it, it's dark in color, probably black... Canaries have pale bills, much less elongated...
Or a Cuckoo-finch? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo-finch
Could it be a Yellow Canary? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_canary
To me this looks like one of the weavers (maybe Cape weaver??), and I would say it is moulting...
Photographed
PublishedDecember 10, 2017

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