While there are some other bird species occurring in the Kruger National Park (KNP) that fall under the general name of ‘weavers’, this article deals with those whose general overall colouration is yellow. In Afrikaans these are commonly known as geelvinke.
To the uninitiated, a yellow weaver might be just a yellow weaver as there is a superficial resemblance between them, but in the KNP there are in fact six different species, all of which are from the genus Ploceus in the weaver family, Ploceidae. Worldwide there are 68 species in the genus, all of which are native to the Indomalayan and Afrotropical regions.
The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek plokeus meaning ‘weaver’, and plekō meaning to ‘entwine’ or ‘braid’, both bearing reference to their characteristic nest structures.
Identifying the weavers, particularly during winter in the non-breeding season, can be somewhat challenging. But any of the many bird books can facilitate identification, so here
