Red-headed Weaver (Anaplectes rubriceps) [XC550064]
by Andrew Spencer from Gwassi Foothills West, Homa Bay County, Kenya (song)
Red-headed Weaver (Anaplectes rubriceps) [XC599196]
by Nature sounds by Simply Birding from Mandegee farm, oloitoktok, Kenya (call, contact call)
Subspecies
Formerly, often referred to by specific name melanotis, but that name invalid, as preoccupied. Sometimes placed in genus Malimbus. Subspecies leuconotos considered by some authors to represent a separate species, but intergrades extensively with nominate in southern Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi.
Proposed subspecies gurneyi (described from Caconda, in western Angola), is synonymized with nominate.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
leuconotos (von Müller, JW, 1851) - South-western Mali, southern Burkina Faso and northern Ghana east to north-central Nigeria, northern Cameroon, southern Chad, northern Central African Republic, western and southern Sudan and western Ethiopia, also north-eastern DRCongo, Uganda, western Kenya and Tanzania south to northern Zambia and northern Malawi. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Northern Red-headed Weaver (Anaplectes leuconotos).
jubaensis van Someren, 1920 - Southern Somalia and northern coastal Kenya. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Red Weaver (Anaplectes jubaensis).
rubriceps (Sundevall, 1850) - Angola, south-eastern DRCongo, southern Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, northern and north-eastern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, north-eastern South Africa and Swaziland.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet