Baya Weaver

The baya weaver is a sparrow-sized weaverbird about 15cm long with a stout conical bill and a short square tail. Outside the breeding season both sexes look like female house sparrows: dark brown streaked buff above, plain whitish-buff below, with a long buff eyebrow and a horn-coloured bill. Breeding males have a bright yellow crown, a dark brown mask, a blackish bill, dark brown upperparts streaked yellow and a yellow breast (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is best known for its hanging, retort-shaped nests woven from leaves, usually on thorny trees or palm fronds near or over water, where predators cannot easily reach them. It is social, foraging in flocks for seeds on plants and on the ground and gleaning grain in harvested fields, and flocks fly in tight formation. It is sometimes regarded as a pest of ripening crops, and makes local movements with rain and food. SoIB 2023 lists it as resident in India with a very large range, finds its trends stable, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).