Master weaver

A masked weaver bird has been busy building nests in our garden all summer. Join me to see his progress

and dedication.

© Wia Kotzé 2010

The beginning…

When I noticed the bird for the first

time he was almost finished with the

second nest. I then learnt that they

keep at it all summer and may

build more than 25 nests on average per season. Well

this one ended up with about 40

nests! Lets look at some of them!

Let’s call him “Mr Weaver”

The female weaver bird –

much less colourful than the

male

Mr Weaver building another nest next to the

older one

Adding some finishing touches to the entrance

More building material to add to the top

Good balance is important…

Then Mrs. Weaver came to

see what’s up and do

an inspection

…

He first looked at the older nest as if considering some

renovations but then decided to demolish the

newer nest

Demolishing continues…

Only the old nest remaining and more

leaves removed from the twigs.

Contrary to what I believed it is not the female that breaks up the nest. In this instance the male

did ALL the demolishing.

Early on an overcast morning he started the next nest. Note the long

threads and loops to secure the building

material to the cleaned twig…

Later that morning he already made some

considerable progress

This process continued and at some stage there were

four nests in various stages of completion.

Right at the bottom you can see part of the oldest nest

and Mrs Weaver watching. . .

Mr Weaver trying his level best and the Missus

looking on sitting

next to the older nest.

Mrs. Weaver checking the progress and Mr.

Weaver taking off agitated!

Conflict!!

Maybe more secure and wider at the

top and a better

entrance may please her

better?

Well, she did not like that either. . .

A clean start for the next round and the old nest still intact. . .

This older nest stayed on for more than a

week and the female often went in and

sometimes stayed put for quite a while.

The nest had since dried out

considerably too.

Eventually it was demolished as well

Another male paid a visit a few times too but Mr Weaver did not seem to be upset by the intrusion

The work continued from sunrise to sunset. . .

Taking a break. . .

And there were some visitors too. . .

Decisions, decisions. . .

Drat!! Here she comes again and I am not finished yet!

Another nest half finished

Mrs. Weaver wants to see what’s up!

There is not enough room for both of us!!

Can’t you wait till I am finished?

Buzz off!!

I have to fix something inside! OK then!! Have a look!

It’s hard work when she interferes all the time. . .

My goodness! She is back again!!

I need more building material!!

…and so he continued day

after day, building, waiting for her inspection

and sometimes calling her, then

mostly demolishing again and

starting from scratch – day in and day out –

throughout the season over a

period of about 5 months building

more than 40 nests

Adding some final touches once again. . .

Diligently and patiently building, building, building . . .

Often doing a little dance while calling her . . .

…and then at the end of summer it was all in vain…and now the tree is growing new leaves again and he will wait till next summer… even his bright red mask is fading as winter approaches…

The end