Bob Tailed Weaver

This short-tailed weaver has various breeding plumages: the male has a yellow head with black mask, yellowish underparts, and ventral mottling apparently only in full breeding plumage which is recently documented.

IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC)

This resident passerine inhabits clearings in riverine forest, often near humans (Lack 2010); it’s an endemic of the central areas of the Congo Basin: mainly along the Congo River and some tributaries.

Central African areas in the Congo Basin from Cameroon to DR Congo (mainly along the Congo River and some tributaries).

More details about its distribution are available at ibc.lynxeds.com.

Range expansion along the Congo River (in a downstream direction) is derived from photographs of adult birds in Kinshasa in September 2011: http://www.birdexplorers.com/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=2&af_bs_id=2268

Simulated distribution for the present (based on recent observed climate change), for 2025, 2055 and 2085 (based on projected future climate change) is available (BirdLife International and Durham University 2011) at: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=8569&m=2

Grassy cleared areas near major rivers in rainforest (Craig 2010) including rural gardens (BirdLife International 2011).

This short-tailed weaver has various plumages:

- male breeding plumage: yellow head with black mask, brownish upperparts and yellowish underparts (Craig 2010) and ventral mottling apparently only in full breeding plumage which is for the first time documented (on added photograph by K.D. Dijkstra, Kisangani, DR Congo, 27-04-2010). This ventral mottling is not shown nor mentioned in any of the ornithological handbooks yet.

- male non-breeding, female and juvenile plumage: plain brown head, buffy breast and brownish upperparts but each a different colour of bill (Craig 2010).

Resident (predominantly)

The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as locally common (Fry and Keith 2004 in BirdLife International 2011).

• Monogamous (most apparently)
• Solitary nester
• It nests in a spherical structure with lateral entrance, woven from grass strips, placed in bush or small tree.
• Number of eggs: 2 - 4

Length: 12 cm (Craig 2010)

The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats (BirdLife International 2011).

It feeds on seeds and also likely on insects. It forages on ground (Craig 2010).

The bob-tailed weaver (Brachycope anomala) is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is monotypic within the genus Brachycope. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.