[delia todd]

Discussion thread for Black-necked Weaver. If you would like to add a comment, click the Post Reply button.

[delia todd]

In view of the comments posted under Identification, could someone more knowledgable than me please have a look.

Thanks

D

[jthoppes]

I'll take a stab at this one.

The suggested argument against Black-necked is as follows:

"1) the lack of the black throat, 2) the iris being yellowish and not reddish, 3) the back not being black (like E&C race of B-n W) or even dark olive (like W race of B-n W), but olive green and 4) the lack of the chestnut wash on the head (can't see the breast)."

Point 1 is moot since this is a female bird and the black throat is found on males of both species. The black back in point three is also moot, since this is the western race. That leaves: back color (olive vs. dark olive), chestnut head wash, and iris color. Borrow and Demey, in the Helm Birds of Western Africa, portray all of these features as roughly identical on these two species. They suggest instead using the color of the crown (olive in Black-necked, golden-yellow tending to olive in Spectacled). On this feature the bird looks like a probable Black-necked, since we can see the contrast between a yellow line around the mask and the greener feathers on top of the crown. More generally: 1. the bird looks quite similar to the Black-necked Weavers I have encountered, although I have no field experience with Spectacled as I've never birded in its range and 2. RANGE! A look at the photographer's blog and trip report on Surfbirds tells us that this photo was taken in the Gambia. That's hundreds of miles out of range for Spectacled, which has a preference for dense forest in rough terrain and is not found west of extreme eastern Nigeria.

So: the original identification is fine as Black-necked, and I'll edit accordingly. We can always refer to the history if someone would like to disagree...

One lesson to take away: please provide a full location description when you upload a new photo!