My NEW garden inhabitants!
By volschenkh
@volschenkh (1043)
South Africa
January 2, 2007 3:17pm CST
I am so excited! Just discovered yesterday that a pair of Cape Weaver's are starting to build their nests in a quite corner of my garden. The Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis)is a medium sized bird with orange/brown head, breast yellow and upperparts streaked dark olive with a white eye. The female has grey/olive back and underparts white. Weavers like savanna bushveld and gardens. Feeds on insects, spiders, nectar and seeds. Nests are built of grass and reed strips by the male. The nest is oval shaped with a short vertical entrance spout.
I took this picture of the male working on his first nest, they normally build several as the females are very picky about where they want to stay, so the males overcompensate to keep her happy!
2 people like this
6 responses
@kris182_2000 (5475)
• Canada
2 Jan 07
Hey that's so neat. I think it would be cool to have a birds nest in the garden. Just want to make sure that they don't destroy the plantings.
2 people like this
@volschenkh (1043)
• South Africa
2 Jan 07
Thanks, I am so shuffed about it...its facinating to watch him build his nest, and how he tries to impress the female. She appears now and then to check out the nest and flys off into the blue yonder. I think she's very difficult to please this lady...
1 person likes this
@kris182_2000 (5475)
• Canada
3 Jan 07
Cool. Disregard the message I sent you regarding this discussion. It was just a glitch on my computer.
Hope the birds settle in soon.
@volschenkh (1043)
• South Africa
2 Jan 07
Wow, you must have quite a big garden for all those birds. Sounds fascinating...got some pictures of them perhaps?
1 person likes this
@kgwat70 (13387)
• United States
3 Jan 07
Congratulations on this development. I love the picture you posted of the Cape Weaver. It is a very beautiful bird indeed. When did you notice this happening? I bet they are very peaceful birds. You certainly did your homework on them. I love birds. I have never heard of this type of bird before. Thank you for sharing this information.
1 person likes this
@volschenkh (1043)
• South Africa
3 Jan 07
Thanks, I am so pleased that they chose my garden, I noticed this yesterday morning when I went for a short walk in my garden. The main reason for them to make nest here is because of the type of tree and also just opposite my fence is a little river that these birds like.
@sailoffwithme (870)
• United States
5 Jan 07
I have this frog thats been in my greenhouse for about 6 years now. I am not sure what kind of frog it is I have seen some that look like it but nothing that matches exactly has anybody seen a frog like this? He likes hanging out on the pineapple plants I wonder were it came from if it traveled around the world on a pineapple?
I have other frogs in there too much smaller and faster and don't like to have their photos taken this one dose not seem to mind at all.
1 person likes this
@sailoffwithme (870)
• United States
5 Jan 07
maybe I could go to the collage and find out more things about this frog I have looked at lots of pictures but nothing is just like this one
1 person likes this
@volschenkh (1043)
• South Africa
5 Jan 07
Wow what a beautiful specimen. Dont you have a biologist/zoologist that could identify the frog for you? It would nice to know what species and to read more about their habitat and lifecycle etc. Thanks for the great contribution to my post!
@lauriefnp (5109)
• United States
3 Jan 07
What a beautiful bird! I assume it's native to South Africa? It must be fascinating to watch him build the nest. At least the male birds have gotten it right: they understand the importance of pleasing their women! I'm surprised that you were able to get close enough to get such a great picture.
@volschenkh (1043)
• South Africa
3 Jan 07
Hi, yes they are native to South Africa. Ive got quite a zoom lense on my camera, so I took the photo out of a window. I was not that close to them.
@coolseeds (3919)
• United States
16 May 08
What a great addition to a garden or flower bed. It would be great to be able to see them at work. Do the males care for the babies? Do you know anything about the social structure of the birds?
