Goals: 1)Provide recommenda3ons to Willow Park Zoo on how to s3mulate nes3ng building in Village Weavers. 2)Provide informa3on for zoo educator use in presenta3ons.
-‐ Each step in nest building provides its own s3muli of termina3on and ini3a3on for the next step -‐Experienced vs. inexperienced weavers -‐ Males aggressively guard territory -‐ Nest polarity
Background -‐ Gregarious -‐ Males are Polygamists
-‐ Endemic to the sub-‐Saharan region of Africa
-‐Colonial-‐Nesters -‐ True Weavers -‐ Brood parasi3sm by Didric Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx caprius) -‐ Sexual Dimorphism -‐ Males exhibit nest dependence and guarding; perform nest adver3sement displays -‐ Agricultural pest
Village Weavers, Ploceus cucullatus: It takes a Village to Weave a Nest
Eliza Browning, Mentors: Dr. Kimberly Sullivan and Mr. Troy Cooper
Nests -‐ The male weaves the nest, thatches the ceiling and adds an opening entrance aTer a female selects the nest and copula3on has occurred -‐ The female lines the nest if she accepts If the female rejects a
nest, the male tears it down and rebuilds
Diet (WPZ) 2 birds – fed 1x/day -‐ 2 beetles -‐ 4 mealworms -‐2 Tsp SoT-‐bill diet -‐2 Tsp ground dog food -‐2 Tsp millet -‐1/2 chopped fruits and vegetables -‐
Fact Sheets for Presenta3ons:
Sugges3ons to encourage Village Weavers to construct nests: Materials: green, flexible, 25-‐35 cm long,( ~300 strands/nest) Diet: (3.9 kcal per nest/male); increase insects consump3on Sex Ra3o: playing calls of a female in morning Environment: Increasing the humidity (ex. Mis3ng),
Breeding Rainy season 1 male mates with ~ 5 females Avg. clutch size is 2-‐3 eggs Significant Factors: -‐ Colony Size -‐Availability of Age of Birds water and nest -‐ Sex Ra3o building material
hbp://www.lynxeds.com/hbw/photo/village-‐weaver
hbp://www.birdforum.net/opus/Ploceus_cucullatus
Birds Nests, Sharon Cohen; pg 73
References Figure 1 and 2 – Collias, Nicholas E. and Elsie C. Collias. ‘An Experimental Study of the Mechanisms of Nest Building in a Weaverbird’, The Auk, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct., 1962), pp. 568-‐595 Collias, Nicholas E. and Elsie C. Collias. ‘Nest Building and Bird Behavior’. Princeton, 1984. Print.
-‐
Figure 1
Figure 2
Goals
-‐ -‐ -‐
Recommended
