Dark-backed Weaver

Common, localised resident. Adults identical, maintaining the same plumage all year. Race (a) typical of southern birds, race (b) found in coastal southern Mozambique, northern Mozambique and northeastern Zimbabwe. Immatures are similar, the flanks with an olive wash. The song is a duet by both sexes, the most common phrase a high-pitched series of pleasant notes ‘fweeee, foo-fwee foo-fwee…’, repeated with variations plus some soft rattling sounds. A non-gregarious, insectivorous weaver usually occurring in pairs in the mid stratum of coastal and inland forests, dense riverine forest and valley bush. A quiet species that creeps about branches and probes for its food beneath bark and in Usnea lichen (‘old man’s beard’).