Many birds bathe to help clean their feathers, but some species do not seem to bathe. Species that often bathe include thrushes, bulbuls, babblers, finches. Birds may bathe when it is sunny, but also when it is cold.
Many weaver species are fond of bathing. Weavers are usually very vigorous bathers, splashing the water a lot. Weavers often come to bird baths to drink and bathe, but may also bathe under garden sprinklers, at stream edges, puddles in roads (after rain), and even in wet grass or leaves.
Table – list of Southern African weavers
Where notes are blank, I do not have a record (published or observed) of the species bathing
| Species | Latin | Notes |
| Thick-billed Weaver | Amblyospiza albifrons | recorded |
| Scaly-feathered Finch | Sporopipes squamifrons | |
| White-browed Sparrow-weaver | Plocepasser mahali | recorded |
| Sociable Weaver | Philetairus socius | 1 record, does not usually bathe |
| Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver | Bubalornis niger | recorded |
| Red-billed Quelea | Quelea quelea | recorded |
| Red-headed Quelea | Quelea erythrops | |
| Cardinal Quelea | Quelea cardinalis | |
| Yellow-crowned Bishop | Euplectes afer | recorded |
| Red-collared Widowbird | Euplectes ardens | recorded |
| Black-winged Bishop | Euplectes hordeaceus | |
| Southern Red Bishop | Euplectes orix | frequent bather |
| Yellow Bishop | Euplectes capensis | recorded |
| Yellow-mantled Widowbird | Euplectes macroura | |
| White-winged Widowbird | Euplectes albonotatus | |
| Fan-tailed Widowbird | Euplectes axillaris | |
| Long-tailed Widowbird | Euplectes progne | |
| Red-headed Weaver | Anaplectes rubriceps | recorded |
| Dark-backed Weaver | Ploceus bicolor | recorded |
| Olive-headed Weaver | Ploceus olivaceiceps | |
| Spectacled Weaver | Ploceus ocularis | recorded |
| Lesser Masked Weaver | Ploceus intermedius | recorded |
| Holub’s Golden Weaver | Ploceus xanthops | recorded |
| Eastern Golden Weaver | Ploceus subaureus | recorded |
| Southern Masked Weaver | Ploceus velatus | frequent bather |
| Chestnut Weaver | Ploceus rubiginosus | recorded |
| Cape Weaver | Ploceus capensis | frequent bather |
| Village Weaver | Ploceus cucullatus | frequent bather |
| Southern Brown-throated Weaver | Ploceus xanthopterus |
Some non-Southern African species that have been recorded to bathe are:
- Rodrigues Fody Foudia flavicans
- Baglafecht Weaver Ploceus baglafecht
