Dark-backed Weaver (Ploceus bicolor)

Other Names (World)
Dark-backed Weaver, Forest Weaver, Grey-backed Weaver (amaurocephalus), Gray-backed Weaver (amaurocephalus), Black-backed Weaver, Eastern Forest Weaver (kersteni), Spot-headed Weaver (stictifrons)

Family
Ploceidae (Weavers)

Size
15 cm

First Described (Guide)
Vieillot, 1819

Habitat
Subtropical and tropical dry and moist lowland forest, dry savanna.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

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 (83)...)

Dark-backed Weaver (Ploceus bicolor) [XC623065]
by BurBenj from Ndlambe Local Municipality (near Seafield), Western District, Eastern Cape, South Africa (flight call)

Dark-backed Weaver (Ploceus bicolor) [XC794122]
by isaac kilusu from Suni camp, Chita Forest, southern Udzungwa Scarp, Tanzania (song)

Subspecies
Subspecies stictifrons intergrades with nominate in southern Mozambique-north-eastern South Africa. Numerous subspecies have been described, based chiefly on minor differences in coloration: thus, proposed subspecies analogus (described from Jele, in Cameroon) is synonymized with tephronotus, albidigularis (from northern Angola) with amaurocephalus, and sylvanus (from eastern Zimbabwe highlands) with stictifrons; and in South Africa lebomboensis (from extreme northern KwaZulu-Natal) and sclateri (from R Mkuze east of Ubombo, in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal) are likewise treated as synonyms of stictifrons, and subspecies pondoensis (from St John's, in north-eastern Eastern Cape) is regarded as a synonym of nominate. Critical assessment of these apparently fragmented populations is required.

The following 8 subspecies are recognised:

tephronotus (Reichenow, 1892) - South-eastern Nigeria (Obudu Plateau), Cameroon, Bioko I (Fernando Póo), Gabon and western PRCongo.
amaurocephalus (Cabanis, 1880) - Western and north-eastern Angola and southern DRCongo (Kasai region).
mentalis (Hartlaub, 1891) - Southern Sudan, north-eastern DRCongo, Uganda and western Kenya.
kigomaensis (Grant, CHB & Mackworth-Praed, 1956) - Western Rwanda, Burundi, eastern and south-eastern DRCongo, Zambia and extreme south-western Tanzania.
kersteni (Hartlaub & Finsch, 1870) - Southern Somalia, coastal Kenya, eastern Tanzania (south to to R Rufiji) and Zanzibar.
stictifrons (Fischer, GA & Reichenow, 1885) - Coastal Tanzania (southern from Kilwa), southern Malawi, eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique south to north-eastern South Africa (northern KwaZulu-Natal).
bicolor Vieillot, 1819 - Southern Mozambique south to southern South Africa (Eastern Cape).
sylvanus Clancey, 1977 - Eastern Zimbabwe and adjacent western Mozambique.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Dark-backed Weaver (Ploceus bicolor) - 10 files

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