Image of male Baya weaver on a branch of tree

Baya Weaver(male)

Baya Weaver introduction

Bayas are found throughout South and Southeast Asia. They like grasslands, scrub, cultivated land generally near waterbodies.

There are three types (race)found in baya.

1) In India philippinus are found.

2)Race burmanicus is found in eastern side of Southeast Asia.

3) Race travancoreenis is found in Southwest Asia.

Baya bird (female)

How to identify baya

Size of baya Weaver is about 15 cm. Both male and female looks like house sparrow in their non breeding plumage. They have a stoutly built conical bill and the tail is short and square. Dark brown streaked fulvous buff above, unstressed whitish fulvous bellow and eye brows are long buffy. Colour of bill is of horn. Breeding male has a bright yellow crown, dark brown mask and bill is balish brown. Colour of breast is yellow on upper portion and cream buff at lower side.

Habit

Baya lives in a large group. They are gregarious bird. They forage in flocks in search of food. Fly in flock in close formations. Their main food are seeds. So we found them in paddy and other grain field. They also feed on insects and their movement are governed by availability of food. Like sparrow, they also descend on to sandy patches on the ground for their sand bath.

Breeding and nesting

Breeding season is during the monsoon. They build their nests in colonies of up to 30-40 and prefer the place close to source of food, nesting meterial and water. Baya Weaver, a true genious in designing and making safe and secure nest using natural elements. It uses strand of long grass or stripes of long leaves to build the nest into a unique bottlegourd shape. By weaving the blades of grass with the rest, an interlock mess is created. Sealed completely with twigs, mud and leaves, they make this nest waterproof so that baby bird is not harmed by weather. See VIDEO below Baya making nest.

Half made baya nest (helmet)

The nest is build by male only. Primarily the nest is half build by the male. At this stage it is called " helmet". After making "helmet", male bird search for his partners. Male baya display to passing females by flapping their wings and calling while hanging to their nests. The female inspect and choose a nest before signalling the approval to a male. After making a pair, male complete the nest. It is observed that decision of female making a pair depends mostly on the location of the nest rather than the structure.

Fully made baya nest

The males are polygamous. They mate 2-3 female one after another and therefore they make many partial nest and start attracting females. Male does 500 flight to complete a nest. After mating female lays 2-4 white eggs and incubate them. It is the female who take the sole responsibility to incubate and bringing up the brood.

Next : Rufous sibia