Golden Weaver ( Ploceus xanthops, family: Ploceidae)

golden weaver kruger national park birds The Golden Weaver (Latin name Ploceus xanthops) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 816 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 1014 also a picture of the Golden Weaver on page 1024. The Golden Weaver belongs to the family of birds classified as Ploceidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Golden Weaver is also known by these other names: Holub's Golden Weaver, Large Golden Weaver, Larger Golden Weaver.

In the previous edition of Roberts (ie 6th edition) the Golden Weaver was called the

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Golden Weaver is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Golden Weaver in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Golden Weaver has been recorded in only 1 sections of the arbitrary Kruger Park regions I selected.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Golden Weaver is a small bird about the size of a house sparrow. Do not take this relative indicator as anything other than a rough easy to remember indicator. It is not a accurate visualization. The height of the Golden Weaver is about 17 cms and its weight is about 44 gms

You will find that the male Golden Weaver plumage and colours are different to that of the female Golden Weaver

  • Head is yellow.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is brown.
  • Throat is brown.
  • Back is brown.
  • Legs are black.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Golden Weaver feeds on the ground and in foliage mainly

Invertebrates

Seeds

Nectar

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Golden Weaver takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Golden Weaver is to create the nest in branches of a tree or shrub or on the ground. The bird lays eggs which are pink in colour and number between 1 to 4

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Golden Weaver are: woodlands and grasslands

You will not see Golden Weaver in flocks. The bird prefers to act singly or in pairs.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... iHlokohloko

Afrikaans ...Goudwewer

German ... Groer Goldweber, Safranweber

Portuguese ... Tecelo-dourado

French ... Tisserin safran

Dutch ... Saffraanwever

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 816

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za