not a british bird

[faz]

dose any one know what weaver this is

[RobinP]

Surprisingly enough, it's a black-headed weaver, is it in your garden?

[faz]

no its not in my garden friend of a friend asked me to id it it must be an escapee from private collection /zoo etc
thanks for your help

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by RobinP

Surprisingly enough, it's a black-headed weaver

...perhaps, considering the black head, it's surprising that it's (probably) not a Black-headed Weaver!

Weavers are a difficult group, with some species being very variable in appearance, and I don't have any guides that cover all species & races, so I may be wrong, but I think that this is a breeding plumaged male Golden-backed (or Jackson's) Weaver (Ploceus jacksoni)

Black-headed Weaver usually refers to Ploceus melanocephalus (also sometimes called Yellow-backed Weaver), but this species always seems to have a dark eye, the underparts are never as red, and the back isn't such a bright yellow.

Some races of Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) are also sometimes called Black-headed Weaver, but these tend to have a spotted back and don't have extensive red underparts.

It's certainly a colourful garden visitor anyway!

[RobinP]

You're quite right Roy, I clicked on a mis-id'ed photo in google, the red eye is a bit of a giveaway, though I don't know much about cage birds anyway.

Thanks for the correction.

Robin

[Johnny81]

Flicking through my Birds of Africa book (Sinclair and Ryan) Golden-backed (or Jackson's) Weaver (Ploceus jacksoni) looks a good candidate as RoyW has stated, but this is just a picture ref and I have little knowledge on Weavers, just throwing it out there.

[diggleken]

Golden-backed Weaver looks very right to me too.
Cheers
Ken

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by RobinP

I clicked on a mis-id'ed photo in google, the red eye is a bit of a giveaway

I was also relying on photos on the internet (none of the similar species in my books fitted) - which is why I only said that it was probably this species not a Black-headed Weaver!