The Taveta Golden Weaver (Ploceus castaneiceps) is a small bird found in Kenya and Tanzania in east Africa.

The Taveta Golden Weaver is a bright golden yellow color. Its wings and tail are a greener colour. It has brown spots on its chest. The back of its head is rufous (red-brown), and its beak is black. The female is an olive color with paler streaks.

It can grow to 15 centimeters (6 inches).

It prefers to live in bulrushes, woodland, and swampy areas.

The Taveta Golden Weaver eats mostly seeds from corn and grasses.

It lives in large groups, or colonies. Male weavers build extravagant oval nests over water attached to stems of reeds or grasses. Female Taveta Golden Weavers lay 2-3 glossy, dark, olive-green eggs. The female chooses her mate on his ability to make a fancy nest, which it weaves with grass.

 

 

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM