Black-headed Weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus)

Other Names (World)
Black-headed Weaver, Gambian Black-headed Weaver, Yellow-collared Weaver (capitalis), Yellow-backed Weaver (capitalis), Victoria Masked Weaver, Entebbe Weaver (presumed hybrid), Lake Victoria Weaver (presumed hybrid)

Family
Ploceidae (Weavers)

Size
13 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Habitat
Inland wetlands.

Range (Guide)

Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda, Zambia.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (67)...)

Black-headed Weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus) [XC499161]
by from Ludo (Quinta do Lago near Almancil), Loul\u00e9, Faro, Portugal (call)

Black-headed Weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus) [XC292794]
by Peter Boesman from Ngalou, Palmarin, Fatick, Senegal (song)

Subspecies
Has been thought possibly to form a superspecies with Juba Weaver (Ploceus dichrocephalus). May hybridize with Northern Brown-throated Weaver (Ploceus castanops) in Uganda. Both sight records and specimens of probable hybrids exist, and hybrid was previously described as a separate species, Victoria Masked-Weaver (Ploceus victoriae). Has hybridized with Northern Masked Weaver (Ploceus taeniopterus) in north-eastern DRCongo.

Proposed subspecies fischeri (described from Mwanza, in north-western Tanzania) synonymized with dimidiatus.

The following 5 subspecies are recognised:

melanocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Southern Mauritania, northern and south-western Senegal, Gambia, southern Mali and south-western Niger.
capitalis (Latham, 1790) - Western Guinea-Bissau, eastern Guinea, Burkina Faso, north-eastern Ghana, northern Togo, Nigeria (on major rivers), northern Cameroon, south-western Chad and northern Central African Republic.
dimidiatus (Salvadori & Antinori, 1873) - South-eastern Sudan, western Eritrea, north-eastern DRCongo, Uganda, south-western Kenya and north-western Tanzania.
duboisi Hartlaub, 1886 - Eastern PRCongo, southern Central African Republic, south-western Sudan, central and south-eastern DRCongo and northern Zambia.
fischeri Reichenow, 1887 - Eastern DR Congo, Uganda, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania and northern Zambia.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Black-headed Weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus) - 10 files

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BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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