Ploceidae

The family Ploceidae was introduced (as Ploceïdes) by the Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall in 1836.[3][4] These species are not closely related to the sparrows (Passeridae) nor to the Emberizidae, according to Luis Allende and colleagues.[5][6] The family is divided into the buffalo, sparrow, typical, and widow weavers. Weavers get their name because of their elaborately woven nests.

The males of many species in this family are brightly coloured, usually in red or yellow and black. Some species show variation in colour only in the breeding season. These are seed-eating birds with rounded conical bills.

The weaverbird colonies may be found close to bodies of water.

Although weavers are named for their elaborately woven nests, some are notable for their selective parasitic nesting habits instead. The nests vary in size, shape, material used, and construction techniques from species to species. Materials used for building nests include fine leaf fibers, grass, and twigs. Many species weave very fine nests using thin strands of leaf fiber, though some, like the buffalo-weavers, form massive untidy stick nests in their colonies, which may have spherical woven nests within. The sociable weavers of Africa build apartment-house nests, in which 100 to 300 pairs have separate flask-shaped chambers entered by tubes at the bottom. The sparrow weavers live in family units that employ cooperative breeding.[7] Most species weave nests that have narrow entrances, facing downward.

Many weaver species are gregarious and breed colonially.[2] The birds build their nests together for protection, often several to a branch. Usually the male birds weave the nests and use them as a form of display to lure prospective females.

They sometimes cause crop damage, notably the red-billed quelea, reputed to be the world's most numerous bird.[8][9]

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  A nest in the early stages of construction
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  Adult Sporopipes at its spherical grass nest, placed in a shrub
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  Plocepasser nest in Namibia, for year-round occupation.[7]
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  Communal Philetairus nests in central Namibia
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  Pseudonigrita nest in Kenya, with entrance below
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  Black-breasted weaver nest suspended from grass, India
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  A baya weaver on his unfinished nest, northern India
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  Nests of a baya weaver colony suspended from a palm tree, India
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  Male Quelea at nest concealed in thorny Senegalia shrub
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  Red bishop constructing a nest in reeds, South Africa
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  Nests of a colony of Sakalava weavers, Madagascar
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  Spherical village weaver nests suspended from a palm tree, West Africa
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  A southern masked weaver building his nest, Namibia
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  Hanging nest, Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 2019.

• De Silva, T.N.; Peterson, A.T.; Perktas, U. (2019). "An extensive molecular phylogeny of weaverbirds (Aves: Ploceidae) unveils broad nonmonophyly of traditional genera and new relationships". The Auk. 20: 1–21. doi:10.1093/auk/ukz041.