Different faces of the Ruppell's weaver (1 Viewer)

[ammadoux]

Rüppell's Weaver, Ploceus galbula, is a common bird in Jeddah gardens, it is also common bird in western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and East Africa.

they are very similar to the southern masked weaver, , but there face mask is chestnut red, that color appears the best on breeding season. but the question is when is the breeding season for Ruppell's.

They build nests all year round, and now as i have quite large population in my region, i see youngsters almost all year round.

they suppose to loss there face mask outside the breeding season, i am used to seeing individuals with what i call dirty faces, which makes them different from fresh adults who have clear yellow face with semi black bill, and red eyes. by time red spots start to appear in there faces until the red mask is complete. those one are very common to see in Spring. they maybe confused with the female but the red iris is a clear sign on the male beside there larger size.

last week i was able to record 4 with different masks, the one that strikes me is the last one, which seem to be like balding Cardinals of north America, have never seen any like him before, hope it is not some kind of disease.

wonder what you think.

 

[ammadoux]

here are some more pics

1- breeding male

2- fresh adult

3- female

 

[volker sthamer]

Great captures Doux showing the different stages of this handsome weaver. It is interesting that in Jeddah they breed almost all year round. Just across the Red Sea in Ethiopia they have two defined breeding seasons in the Rift Valley ( up to 1600 m over sea level): the first in February with the start of the small rains and the second in June with the big rainy season. Males start to get the dark mask end of January and they remain with this coloration until the end of the second breeding period in July / August. In July/ August when fledglings leave the nests immediately the Cut Throat Finches occupy them. In the highlands (Jimma region) up to 2400 meters over sea level I observed that they only breed once a year - this is a own observation and not confirmed by others so far.
It seems that the mask of the males in Ethiopia is much darker than on your photos Doux. A different subspecies?

 

[volker sthamer]

here a photo showing the dark mask

 

[njlarsen]

Great discussion :t:

I took the liberty of linking to this thread from the opus page. http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Rüppell's_Weaver#Identification

Niels

Edit: the species is considered monotypic, which does not exclude that there can be regional variation.

 

[ammadoux]

this is how that balding one is looking now, this shot is taken today October 9.

 

[ammadoux]

these two shots , show the juvenile male and the fresh adult male. both did not get the face mask yet, but the fresh adult is already making nests.

 

[ammadoux]

closeup to the face mask show that it is not only red, but a region of complete black in the middle