Master Weaver Final Show
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Transcript of Master Weaver Final Show
Master weaver
A masked weaver bird has been busy building nests in our garden all summer. Join me to see his progress
and dedication.
© Wia Kotzé 2010
The beginning…
When I noticed the bird for the first
time he was almost finished with the
second nest. I then learnt that they
keep at it all summer and may
build more than 25 nests on average per season. Well
this one ended up with about 40
nests! Lets look at some of them!
Let’s call him “Mr Weaver”
The female weaver bird –
much less colourful than the
male
Mr Weaver building another nest next to the
older one
Adding some finishing touches to the entrance
More building material to add to the top
Good balance is important…
Then Mrs. Weaver came to
see what’s up and do
an inspection
…
He first looked at the older nest as if considering some
renovations but then decided to demolish the
newer nest
Demolishing continues…
Only the old nest remaining and more
leaves removed from the twigs.
Contrary to what I believed it is not the female that breaks up the nest. In this instance the male
did ALL the demolishing.
Early on an overcast morning he started the next nest. Note the long
threads and loops to secure the building
material to the cleaned twig…
Later that morning he already made some
considerable progress
This process continued and at some stage there were
four nests in various stages of completion.
Right at the bottom you can see part of the oldest nest
and Mrs Weaver watching. . .
Mr Weaver trying his level best and the Missus
looking on sitting
next to the older nest.
Mrs. Weaver checking the progress and Mr.
Weaver taking off agitated!
Conflict!!
Maybe more secure and wider at the
top and a better
entrance may please her
better?
Well, she did not like that either. . .
A clean start for the next round and the old nest still intact. . .
This older nest stayed on for more than a
week and the female often went in and
sometimes stayed put for quite a while.
The nest had since dried out
considerably too.
Eventually it was demolished as well
Another male paid a visit a few times too but Mr Weaver did not seem to be upset by the intrusion
The work continued from sunrise to sunset. . .
Taking a break. . .
And there were some visitors too. . .
Decisions, decisions. . .
Drat!! Here she comes again and I am not finished yet!
Another nest half finished
Mrs. Weaver wants to see what’s up!
There is not enough room for both of us!!
Can’t you wait till I am finished?
Buzz off!!
I have to fix something inside! OK then!! Have a look!
It’s hard work when she interferes all the time. . .
My goodness! She is back again!!
I need more building material!!
…and so he continued day
after day, building, waiting for her inspection
and sometimes calling her, then
mostly demolishing again and
starting from scratch – day in and day out –
throughout the season over a
period of about 5 months building
more than 40 nests
Adding some final touches once again. . .
Diligently and patiently building, building, building . . .
Often doing a little dance while calling her . . .
…and then at the end of summer it was all in vain…and now the tree is growing new leaves again and he will wait till next summer… even his bright red mask is fading as winter approaches…
The end