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Breeding Habits and Nesting Success of Village
Weavers (Spotted–Backed) Ploceus cucullatus at Soba
Region, Khartoum State Sudan
*Noon Bushra Eltahir and Dawi Musa Hamed
University of Khartoum, Faculty of Science, Department
of Zoology
*E-mail for correspondence: nanobush@hotmail.com
Abstract
Field observations were made of the breeding habits of
the Village Weaver (Spotted–Backed) Ploceus cucullatus
at Soba Region, Khartoum State, Sudan, from March to
September 2011. This species is widespread in most of
sub-Saharan Africa. The maximum total numbers of
investigated nests were 130, which were built on a
Balanites Egyptica (Hajlij) tree. Descriptions are given of
the nest, nest building, nest sites, the roles played by
the male and female members of the pairs during the
nesting period, eggs laying, incubation and hatching.
This species builds a large coarsely woven nest made of
grass and leaf strips with a downward facing entrance
which is suspended from a branch in a tree. They bred
socially and males build several nests ranging from 2 to
5 nests. Average number of eggs per nests are 2 (N=13).
Breeding success was high with nine out of 13 nests
producing fledglings. Breeding success was calculated
from nests that were followed from egg laying to
fledgling. The daily survival probability would be 0.9316
using a nesting period of 25 days and the total survival
probability would be 0.17. So there is a 17% chance that
a nest will fledge at least one young.
Keywords: Village weaver, breeding, egg laying,
incubation and hatching.
TAAG First African Student’s Conference, Nairobi. 2-4 July, 2013 51