Species guide
Village Weaver: how to recognise it
A bird seen on most continents. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Nik Borrow · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Ploceus cucullatus
- Family
- Weavers and Allies
- Size
- About 15–17 cm
- Habitat
- Villages, farmland and wetland edges
- Found in
- Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and South America
The key marks
The breeding male is yellow with a black face and a red eye; the female is duller yellow-olive.
Voice
A noisy, rasping chattering from the nest tree.
Good to know
Males weave hanging grass nests in noisy colonies, and a male whose nest is rejected may tear it apart and start again.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in villages, farmland and wetland edges. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.