Weaver species list / RELATED SPECIES: Black-billed Weaver / Black-chinned Weaver / Black-necked Weaver / Clarke’s Weaver / Lesser Masked Weaver / Little Weaver / Loanga Weaver / Slender-billed Weaver / Spectacled Weaver / Strange Weaver / Tanganyika Masked Weaver
IUCN: Least concern Discovery: 025
Categories: long tube, fruit, nectar, Nest use, Ploceus 6: ‘Hyphanturgus’, palm
SPLIT – Olive-naped Weaver Ploceus brachypterus
(see AviList 2025)
Discovery
IntroductionThe Black-necked Weaver was formally described by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, a French ornithologist. This species had been collected by Jean Perrein, a French naturalist, who travelled in Africa and on other continents. Vieillot was interested in the habits of living birds, but Perrein did not provide any field notes for the Black-necked Weaver, as he had done for the Crested Malimbe. Vieillot also gave a French name to this species, ie. Le Tisserin a gorge noire (meaning Weaver with a black throat).Vieillot described the plumage of the Black-necked Weaver and implied that it had been collected in Malimbe, now called Malembo, in Cabinda, Angola. Perrein sent his specimens to Academy of Sciences in Bordeaux, France, from where the Black-necked Weaver type was moved to the Paris Museum (Swainson 1838). The second illustration of this species to be published, was by Swainson 1837, but this was of the West African race. Scientific citationMalimbus nigricollis Vieillot 1805 Oiseaux chanteurs, p.74 1805 Malimba, Angola. Meaning of namesnigricollis Latin: niger, black; Mod. Latin: -collis, necked. First English nameRound-winged Weaver (Swainson 1837). Alternate namesFernando Po Spectacled Weaver, Kenya Black-necked Weaver, Manenguba Weaver, Swainson’s Spectacled Weaver, Swainson’s Weaver. CollectorJean Perrein. Date collectedBefore 1805. Locality collectedMalimbe =Malembo, Cabinda, Angola. Type specimensType specimen probably still in the Natural History Museum in Paris. |
The above is based on Weaver Wednesday 2, a weekly series about the discovery of each weaver species.
This species text first appeared as Weaver Wednesday [142] – Discovery [25]: Black-necked Weaver on 2015-03-04
1. Basic biology
| Identification. The Black-necked Weaver Ploceus nigricollis is similar to the Spectacled Weaver, having a golden head with a narrow black mask through the eye, and a black bib in the male. Birds from Cameroon to Kenya are easily distinguished from the Spectacled Weaver by black upperparts, wings and tail in both sexes; the female and juvenile have a diagnostic yellow line between the black crown and mask. Birds in West Africa have green upperparts and differ from Spectacled Weavers in having a green (not yellow) crown, the male has a heavy chestnut wash around the black part, and the female has a yellow line between the crown and mask and a brown eye.
Distribution. The Black-necked Weaver is found from West to eastern Africa. Three subspecies are recognised (see map above, based on Birds of Africa): Habitat. The Black-necked Weaver inhabits woodland, ranging from savanna to gallery forest, forest clearings and edges, gardens, oil palm, cocoa and coffee plantations, and mangroves, and occasionally in eucalypt plantations. Pairs remain together all year. It is not usually gregarious but small groups may forage together during the dry season, and may roost in groups. Food. The Black-necked Weaver is mainly insectivorous, feeding on grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, ants, bugs, termite and ant alates. It also feeds on seeds, spiders, berries, fruit and nectar. In one study in Ivory Coast, diet was estimated as 60% arthropods, 20% fruit and 10% seeds. It sometimes joins mixed-species flocks of insectivores around clearings, gleaning the vegetation for insects. It usually feeds within 2 m of the ground, but may feed in the canopy.
 Breeding. The Black-necked Weaver is solitary and monogamous, probably having a permanent pair bond, but polygyny has been recorded. The male defends the immediate vicinity of the nest. There are usually solitary nests or, where several nests are together, only one is occupied. One colony had 30 pairs in oil palm near Libreville, Gabon. The nest is retort-shaped with the entrance tunnel short or up to 20 cm long but narrower than the tunnel of the Spectacled Weaver. The nest is woven of grass, or in more forested areas, vine stems or tendrils of creepers. It is not tightly woven and often unlined, so that the eggs are visible from outside, but nests are usually well hidden (in contrast to the more exposed nests of Spectacled Weavers). The nest is usually built in the centre of thick trees but in Uganda may be attached to elephant grass. On Bioko nests in coconut palms are built near wasp nests. Two eggs are laid, and they are blue to whitish, with fine red speckles.Old nests of the Black-necked Weaver may be used for breeding by Dusky-blue Flycatchers Muscicapa comitata and occasionally by Bronze Mannikins Spermestes cucullata. |
The above is based on Weaver Wednesday, a weekly series about weaver species.
This species text first appeared as Weaver Wednesday [65]: Black-necked Weaver on 2013-09-11
2. Breeding facts
| Pair bond Monogamous, probably with long-term pair-bond; occasionally polygynous, e.g. at two sites in Kenya male acquired two females Breeding season Nest site Nest building Colony size Clutch size Egg colour Egg size Incubation Chicks and nestling period |
Breeding information based on Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 15.
3. Photos of Weaver Nests
 Vm 27617 |
 Vm 26338 |
 Vm 17868 |
 Vm 17610 |
 Vm 16863 |
 Vm 15774 |
Thumb-nails of recent PHOWN records