garden BIRDS

THE LONG & THE SHORT OF IT Abnormal weaver nest attachments

- WESLEY GUSH

For the past three years I have observed the intriguing nests made by a male Southern Masked Weaver in our garden in northern Joburg.

Three years ago, the male built a long nest in a thorn tree and he’s done the same every year since then. In 2020 the first long nest (approximately 50 to 60 centimetres) appeared in a fever tree in the garden, but two weeks later a weaver built a long nest in the same thorn tree as in previous years.

I’m not sure if it’s the same bird every year. The first nest attachment was a medium length, about 40 centimetres, before the weaver tore the bottom off the nest chamber and extended the attachment until it was almost a metre long. He then finished it off with a proper nest chamber at the bottom. One day when he was building the nest, a second weaver perched near him with a blade of grass in his beak and then added it to the nest. I haven’t subsequently seen two birds at the nest.

The weaver left the extended nest for a few days, then set about shortening it by tearing off about 50 centimetres of the attachment and added the nest chamber at the end of what was now an approximately 30-centimetre-long attachment. He constructed a second long nest near the first one; he finished it, then tore off the bottom section and once again proceeded to lengthen it, this time to about 70 centimetres. A couple of days later he shortened this attachment too.

Not satisfied with his work, he then once again reduced the length of the original long nest and it now far more closely resembles a ‘normal’ weaver’s nest; he has shortened the attachment of the second nest as well.