Masked Weaver Urban Gardens Start Nesting Earlier Than Swartkeelgeelvink Birds in the Surrounding Countryside (Wilson 1991)

560 Ploceidae: sparrows, weavers, bishops, widows and queleas

1995). Birds in artificially watered peri- Masked Weaver urban gardens start nesting earlier than Swartkeelgeelvink birds in the surrounding countryside (Wilson 1991). Ploceus velatus Interspecific relationships: It may flock and roost with a wide range of other The Masked Weaver is the most widely granivorous species, mostly ploceids. Flocks distributed southern African weaver, which on passage were dominated at an artificial occurs to the north of our region in southern food source by resident pairs of Golden Angola, southern Zaire, Zambia, Malawi, Weavers Ploceus xanthops (Herremans & and southwestern Tanzania (Hall & Moreau Herremans-Tonnoeyr 1995). 1970). It is most characteristic and abundant The range overlaps extensively with all on the dry central plateau of South Africa, nine other Ploceus species in the atlas re- and it is apparently least common in the gion, but it is the only small, predominantly Transkei (cf. Quickelberge 1989). It is un- granivorous member of the genus with such common in the Mozambique lowlands catholic habitat tolerance. There is no evi- (Clancey 1971c), and relatively less com- dence from the distributions for comple- mon in the tropical lowlands of KwaZulu- mentarity or competitive exclusion with any Natal, Swaziland and the Transvaal lowveld. of the Ploceus species. It is virtually absent from the treeless Namib. It is a common host of the Diederik It may be found up to 2600 m in river val- Cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius (Maclean leys in the Lesotho highlands (Bonde 1993). 1993b). Five subspecies have been described for the region, all with con- Historical distribution and conservation: First recorded tinuous ranges (Clancey 1980b). at Worcester (3319CB) in 1940, it seems to have expanded into Since there are three black-faced weavers in southern Africa, the southwestern Cape Province in recent decades (Brooke 1985). errors in the identification of birds in breeding or nonbreeding Macdonald (1990) suggested that it had earlier colonized the plumage are to be expected. However, this is unlikely to distort Karoo by making use of alien Mesquite Prosopis spp. trees as the picture for the present species. nesting sites. It has also expanded its breeding range into grass- Habitat: Reporting rates do reflect accurately that it is most land areas where nests are suspended from barbed wire fences commonly found in open country, and is not primarily associated (H.D. Oschadleus in litt.). Like other granivorous weavers which with woodland. It nests in trees, bushes, or reeds along water- often nest near water, it has taken advantage of modifications to courses, but also in trees near homesteads and in other vegetation the environment: it is common in suburban gardens in many areas away from water. Thus it is common throughout arid regions, at (e.g. Howman & Begg 1983) and frequently breeds near farm least where water is available for drinking. dams. An enormously successful species, it is an unprotected pest Movements: Seasonal changes in reporting rate follow the in the Cape Province and Transvaal, where it damages grain crops breeding and nonbreeding seasons, but long-distance movements in many areas. do occur. A ringed bird was recovered 1273 km from the ringing A.J.F.K. Craig site, nine others had moved more than 100 km, and a further nine more than 50 km, although 292 of 370 birds were recovered Recorded in 3463 grid cells, 76.3% within 10 km of the original ringing locality (Craig 1982a). In Total number of records: 54 365 southeastern Botswana, ringing showed that adult males are quite Mean reporting rate for range: 39.9% sedentary, whereas most juveniles move out of the area during winter, as do many adult females in a drought year (Herremans 1994f); in this region on the hardveld it appears to be a partial Reporting rates for vegetation types migrant. Such records are of course biased by the increased chance % 04080 of recapture or recovery near breeding sites to which male birds return in successive years (Rowan 1964). Further west in the Grassy Karoo 68.3 Kalahari sandveld, it has been described as predominantly a wet- Mixed Grasslands 62.9 season migrant (Dawson 1975), while there is evidence for a large- Sweet Grasslands 62.8 scale dry-season influx into the Okavango basin (Brewster 1991; Central Kalahari 53.5 Herremans 1994f). Sour Grasslands 52.0 Breeding: In the eastern Zones 5–8, breeding activity was Nama Karoo 48.6 recorded almost throughout the year, but primarily August– Moist Woodland 46.0 March, with breeding being more concentrated in the eastern Cape Miombo 44.9 Province (Zone 8) and spanning the widest period in Zimbabwe Succulent Karoo 33.8 (Zone 5). In the winter-rainfall region in the southwestern Cape Arid Woodland 29.4 Province, breeding peaks earlier (October) than in other areas, and Southern Kalahari 29.4 declines more rapidly in January–February. Breeding is consid- Okavango 28.4 erably later, with a peak in the second part of the wet summer Namibian Escarpment 27.4 season (December–March) further north in Zones 1 and 2 where Northern Kalahari 22.4 the arid (and possibly more migratory) subspecies P. v. caurinus Mopane 22.4 occurs. The atlas records conform to published information (Dean Fynbos 19.8 1971; Irwin 1981; Tarboton et al. 1987b; Skinner 1995a). Alpine Grasslands 17.4 Particularly in arid areas, the initiation of breeding is depend- Valley Bushveld 15.3 ent on the start of rainfall and on veld conditions, and the unavail- Namib 13.3 ability of fresh grass-leaves may be limiting for nest building, E Zimbabwe Highlands 11.1 particularly during droughts (Herremans & Herremans-Tonnoeyr East Coast Littoral 2.9 Ploceidae: sparrows, weavers, bishops, widows and queleas 561

14û

MASKED WEAVER 5 1 18û

22û 2 6

26û

3 7 30û Reporting rate (%) > 49.9 25.0 — 49.9 2.0 — 24.9

< 2.0 34û 4 8 18û 22û 26û 14û 30û 10û 34û

60 1 5 20 40 10 20

60 2 6 20 40 10 20

60 3 7 20 40 10 20

60 Occurrence reporting rate (%) 4 8 20 Breeding reporting rate (%) 40 10 20

J ASONDJ FMAMJ J ASONDJ FMAMJ Models of seasonality for Zones. Number of records (top to bottom, left to right): Occurrence: 705, 841, 2042, 2806, 2645, 3918, 9143, 790; Breeding: 86, 187, 481, 644, 506, 1133, 2873, 269.