Thick-billed weaver

{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | image = Amblyospiza albifrons -Pretoria, South Africa -male-8, crop.jpg | image_caption = Nominate male in Pretoria, South Africa | image2 = Grosbeak weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons woltersi) female Maputo.jpg | image2_caption = Female ''A. a. woltersi'' , Mozambique | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Amblyospiza albifrons'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T22719260A131993101 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22719260A131993101.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Amblyospiza | parent_authority = Sundevall, 1850 | species = albifrons | authority = (Vigors, 1831) | synonyms = * ''Pyrrhula albifrons'' Vigors, 1831 }}

The '''thick-billed weaver''' ('''''Amblyospiza albifrons'''''), or '''grosbeak weaver''', is a distinctive and bold species of weaver bird that is native to the Afrotropics. It belongs to the monotypic genus '''''Amblyospiza'''''<ref name = "ITIS"/> and subfamily '''Amblyospizinae'''.<ref name="des">{{cite journal|last1=De Silva|first1=Thilina N.|last2=Peterson|first2=A. Townsend |last3=Bates |first3=John M. |last4=Fernando |first4=Sumudu W. |last5=Girard |first5=Matthew G. |title=Phylogenetic relationships of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae): A first robust phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|date=April 2017 |volume=109 |pages=21–32 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.013 |pmid=28012957|bibcode=2017MolPE.109...21D |s2cid=205841906 }}</ref>

They have particularly strong mandibles, which are employed to extricate the seeds in nutlets and drupes, and their songs are comparatively unmusical and harsh. Their colonial nests are readily distinguishable from those of other weavers, due to their form and placement, and the fine strands used in their construction.

They habitually fan and flick their tails.

==Taxonomy and systematics== The generic name ''Amblyospiza'' was coined by Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1850 and means "blunt, finch", referencing the very large bill, while the specific name ''albifrons'' refers white forehead of the males. The thick-billed weaver was formally described as ''Pyrrhula albifrons'' in 1831 by the Irish zoologist and politician Nicholas Aylward Vigors from the collection of Henry Ellis, the specimens of which were attributed to Algoa Bay and environs in the Eastern Cape.<ref name="Weaver Watch" />

===Subspecies=== Ten subspecies are currently recognized:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Old World sparrows, snowfinches, weavers | work=World Bird List Version 8.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/weavers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=24 November 2018 }}</ref>

*''A. a. capitalba'' (Bonaparte, 1850) – discontinuously from south-eastern Guinea to southern Central African Republic and north-western Angola *''A. a. saturata'' Sharpe, 1908 – southern Nigeria to north-western Democratic Republic of Congo *''A. a. melanota'' (Heuglin, 1863) – South Sudan and southern Ethiopia, through the rift valley and adjacent lowlands to north-western Tanzania *''A. a. montana'' van Someren, 1921 – Kenyan and Tanzanian interior, south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to Malawi and Okavango Basin *''A. a. unicolor'' (G.A.Fischer & Reichenow, 1878) – East coast littoral from southern Somalia to Zanzibar and Pemba islands. *''A. a. tandae'' Bannerman, 1921 – north-western Angola and extreme western Democratic Republic of Congo *''A. a. kasaica'' Schouteden, 1953 – south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo *''A. a. maxima'' Roberts, 1932 – south-eastern Angola, north-eastern Namibia, western Zambia, northern Botswana, extreme north-western Zimbabwe *''A. a. woltersi'' Clancey, 1956 – eastern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, north-eastern and eastern South Africa *''A. a. albifrons'' (Vigors, 1831) – eastern Zimbabwe and central Mozambique, southwards to eastern South Africa

== Distribution and habitat == It has a patchy distribution in West, East and southern Africa,<ref name="iziko">{{cite web|title=Amblyospiza albifrons (Thick-billed weaver) |url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/ploceidae/amblyospiza_albifrons.htm |website=Biodiversity Explorer |publisher=Iziko Museums|access-date=30 March 2016}}</ref> where it is present in marshes, uplands, suburban areas and artificial wetlands.

Thick-billed weavers breed in reedy wetlands and can be found around forest edge outside the breeding season.<ref name = "Weaver Watch">{{cite web | url = http://weavers.adu.org.za/sp.php?spp=804 | title = Thick-billed Weaver ''Amblyospiza albifrons'' | access-date = 19 October 2016 |publisher = ADU - UCT|work = Weaver Watch}}</ref>

==Behaviour and ecology==

=== Breeding === Thick-billed weavers are polygynous, in that a single male attempts to attract and mate with several females. A male may attract up to six females, and up to three nests may be active in any male's territory at once. When found at low density there are many apparently monogamous pairs, but they normally nest in small colonies. More than 100 nests have been counted in one South African colony. After mating the female normally will lay a clutch of 3 whitish pink eggs, spotted with red, purple and brown. The incubation of the eggs is carried out solely by the female. This lasts 14 to 16 days and the chicks are fed by regurgitation by the female until they fledge, though occasionally the male may also feed the young. The chicks fledge after about 18 to 20 days in the nest. The nests are vulnerable to predation and recorded nest predators include the white-browed coucal, house crow and the Nile monitor. After the nests have been used by the weavers they may be commandeered by climbing mice, or used for breeding by the orange-breasted waxbill or brown firefinch.<ref name="Weaver Watch" />

=== Nests === The thick-billed weaver constructs a distinctive nest which is compact, woven with thin strips of reeds and hung between the upright stems of reeds. It is globe-shaped with the entrance (unlike other weaver nests) near the top and facing to the side. The male weaves the nest with fine material leaving a neat impression, but the weave is in fact not as complex or developed as that of other weaver species. The initial entrance is large, but when a female has chosen the nest the entrance reduced to a narrow opening. Thick-billed weaver colonies may involve a single male, or may contain several males, and is usually established in a reed swamp.<ref name="Weaver Watch" />

==Gallery== <gallery mode=packed> File:Amblyospiza albifrons, nes, a, Manie van der Schijff BT.jpg|Nest built in an introduced bamboo species File:Thick-billed Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons) juvenile (12929741175), crop.jpg|Immature bird showing yellow mandibles File:Amblyospiza albifrons, w, vreet netel-dopvrugte, a, Skeerpoort.jpg|Female feeding on nettle nutlets in a mountain ravine File:Thick-billed Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons) (6012173484).jpg|Male foraging on ground on a river bank </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist | refs = <ref name = "ITIS"> {{cite web | title = ITIS Report: ''Amblyospiza'' | url = https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=557398 | access-date = 14 March 2013 | publisher = Integrated Taxonomic Information System }} </ref> }}

==External links== * Thick-billed weaver - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/807.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]. * [http://weavers.adu.org.za/sp.php?spp=804 Thick-billed weaver] on Weaver Watch *{{Commonscat-inline|Amblyospiza albifrons}}

thick-billed weaver Category:Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa thick-billed weaver Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot