Animal
Sociable weaver
The sociable weaver is a small brown bird from southern Africa. Hundreds of weavers build one giant nest together, like a big bird apartment house.
The sociable weaver is a sparrow-sized bird of the dry savannas of southern Africa. Whole colonies, sometimes hundreds of birds, build and share one enormous thatched nest with many separate rooms. It is among the largest nests built by any bird.
Philetairus socius is a colonial, cooperatively breeding bird endemic to the arid savannas of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Colonies of up to about 500 birds build communal nest masses that buffer temperature, can weigh a tonne and last over a century. The species is listed as Least Concern.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the sociable weaver
The sociable weaver is a small brown bird.
It has a black chin and a pale beak. Sociable weavers live in big groups. They build one giant nest together and share it.
The sociable weaver is a small brown bird, about 14 centimeters long, with a creamy belly, a black patch on its chin and throat, a pale, cone-shaped bill and a neat scaly pattern on its back. Males and females look the same.
What makes it famous is teamwork. Sociable weavers live in colonies and build a huge shared nest in a tree or on a pole, with many separate rooms inside. It is like a bird apartment building, and it is among the biggest nests made by any bird.
Philetairus socius is a small seed-eating passerine, about 140 millimeters long and 24 to 32 grams, with cryptic brown plumage, a creamy breast and belly, a black throat patch and small patches of white-edged black feathers on each flank. The sexes are alike. It is placed in the sparrow family, Passeridae, by some authorities and with the weavers, Ploceidae, by others.
Its communal nest masses, built and maintained by whole colonies, are among the largest nests built by birds (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance). Long-term field research, such as Rita Covas's studies in South Africa since 1998, has advanced understanding of cooperative breeding in birds.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.14 m
- Weight
- 0.02 to 0.03 kg
Where it lives
Sociable weavers live in southern Africa.
Their home is hot and dry, with sand, grass and thorny trees. They build their nests in big trees and even on telephone poles.
Sociable weavers live only in southern Africa: in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Their home is dry savanna in and around the Kalahari, with tough grasses and scattered thorn trees such as the camel thorn.
They need strong trees or other tall supports for their nests, and stiff dry grass to build with. Today they also nest on telephone poles, electricity pylons and wind pumps, which has let them move into places with few trees.
The IUCN's 2024 global assessment lists the species as resident in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, between about 470 and 1,860 meters, and non-migratory. Iziko's Biodiversity Explorer describes a range from Namibia through south-eastern Botswana to South Africa's Northern Cape, North West and Free State provinces, mainly in arid savanna and woodland.
Nest sites include camel thorn and other acacias, shepherd's trees and quiver trees, but telephone poles are now the most common artificial site, along with pylons, tank stands and wind pumps. These structures have let colonies spread into largely treeless areas, including parts of the Namib Desert, and Biodiversity Explorer reports that the population has increased substantially over the past century as a result.
Continent
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Arid savanna and woodland in and around the Kalahari, from Namibia through south-eastern Botswana to South Africa's Northern Cape, North West and Free State provinces. Weavers live in only part of each country shown.
Places: Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Germany and Kenya.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Sociable weavers eat seeds and bugs.
They look for food on the ground in big flocks. They love to eat termites.
Sociable weavers mostly eat seeds, especially grass seeds, and they add insects such as termites, caterpillars, small grasshoppers, beetles and ants. They also nibble flowers, fruit and the bases of grass stems.
They feed in big flocks, hopping across the ground and picking up food. Amazingly, sociable weavers rarely, if ever, drink from pools of water, even in their dry home.
The diet is mainly seeds, supplemented with insects, notably northern harvester termites (Hodotermes mossambicus), and also caterpillars and moths, small grasshoppers, beetles and their larvae, and ants; grass bases, flowers and fruit are also recorded (Biodiversity Explorer).
Birds forage in large flocks on the ground, usually within about 1.5 kilometers of the colony's nest, and may rest in the nest or in shade near feeding areas on hot summer days. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance notes that they rarely, if ever, drink from water sources.
Did you know?
Other animals use the weavers' nest too.
Many other animals, including insects, reptiles and other birds, use sociable weaver nests for shelter. Tiny pygmy falcons even live in some of the chambers.
Insects, reptiles and other birds shelter in the nest masses; pygmy falcons occupy chambers, and are also recorded preying on weavers.
A small, sturdy builder
The weaver has a short, thick beak. It eats mostly seeds.
It has a black bib under its chin. Its back looks like it is covered in tiny scales.
Look for the short, thick, pale bill; weavers eat mostly seeds. Under the bill is a black bib on the chin and throat, and on each side of the body there is a patch of black feathers with pale edges.
The back and neck feathers are dark with pale edges, so they look scaly. Weavers hop on the ground with their feet together, and in flight they are quick and nimble.
Plumage is cryptic brown with a creamy breast and belly, a black bib from the bill base onto the chin and throat, and white-edged black flank patches. Wing length is about 70 to 79 millimeters and the bill 16 to 19.5 millimeters (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance).
The bib appears to be a social signal: research cited by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (Rat and colleagues, 2014) found that birds with larger bibs tend to be more dominant, and that birds of the same sex assess each other by bib size, contradicting earlier suggestions that colonies have no social ranking. On the ground they usually hop with feet held together; in flight they are agile and highly maneuverable.
Growing up in the big nest
Each weaver family has its own room in the big nest.
The mother lays a few speckled eggs. Mom and dad keep them warm. Older brothers and sisters help feed the babies!
Inside the giant nest, each pair has its own chamber, a little room at the end of a short tunnel that points down. The chamber is lined with soft grass heads, furry leaves and feathers.
In very dry places, weavers wait to breed until about 20 millimeters of rain has fallen. The female lays 2 to 6 white, speckled eggs, and both parents keep them warm for 13 to 15 days. Helpers, often the chicks from the family's last brood, help feed the new babies. The young leave the chamber at 21 to 24 days old.
In arid areas breeding begins only after roughly 20 millimeters of rain; along the eastern edge of the range laying is more regular, from August or September. In good years a pair may lay up to nine clutches in a season, but in drought there may be no breeding at all: in Namibia's 1956–1959 drought, none of about 100 recorded colonies bred (Biodiversity Explorer).
Clutches of 2 to 6 eggs are incubated for 13 to 15 days by both sexes and sometimes helpers. Up to nine helpers, usually young from the previous brood, sometimes only 25 to 30 days old, and sometimes unrelated birds, help feed the chicks. Young leave at 21 to 24 days and depend on adults for food for about 30 to 45 days more.
A bird apartment house
Sociable weavers build their nest as a team.
It has a big roof of sticks and lots of little rooms underneath. The thick nest stops the rooms from getting too hot or too cold. Some nests are older than your grandparents!
A sociable weaver nest has a big, domed roof of sticks and thorny twigs. Underneath is a thick layer of dry grass with many short tunnels, each leading up to a separate room. All the birds in the colony keep building and repairing it.
A nest can be about 7 meters across, weigh at least a tonne and house up to about 500 birds. Some are more than 100 years old! The thick grass walls keep the rooms from getting too hot or too cold, and the birds sleep inside every night.
Each nest mass has a roof of large, often thorny twigs over a substructure of dry grass, especially tall bushman grass in the Kalahari, pierced by downward-facing tunnels ending in chambers set to one side. Chambers are about 15 centimeters across with entrance tunnels up to 25 centimeters long, and a nest mass may hold 5 to more than 50 of them (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance).
The largest recorded nest mass was about 7 meters across; Biodiversity Explorer gives up to about 500 birds, a weight of at least a tonne and ages over 100 years. The structure buffers temperature swings, and older birds tend to hold chambers near the center. If a nest falls, the colony abandons it along with any eggs and chicks.
Did you know?
Weavers build nests on telephone poles.
Telephone poles are now the most common human-made place for sociable weaver nests.
Telephone poles are the most frequent artificial nest site, alongside pylons, tank stands and wind pumps, allowing colonies into treeless areas.
Doing well
There are lots of sociable weavers.
They are not in danger. They have even found new homes on telephone poles!
Sociable weavers are common, and the IUCN lists them as Least Concern. In one park alone, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, there may be about 16,000 of them.
They have even done better in the last hundred years, because people's telephone poles and pylons gave them new places to build in areas with few trees. Drought is hard on them: in very dry years, colonies may not raise any chicks at all.
The IUCN's 2024 global assessment lists Philetairus socius as Least Concern. Its total population has not been counted, but it is described as common to abundant and is suspected to be stable; one estimate gives about 16,000 birds in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance).
Biodiversity Explorer reports a substantial increase over the past century as birds colonized treeless areas using artificial nest sites. Breeding is strongly tied to rain, and in severe drought colonies may not breed at all. The IUCN records the species in trade at low prevalence, in one of seven datasets examined.
IUCN Red List
How is the sociable weaver doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
Some weaver nests are more than 100 years old.
A sociable weaver nest can be used and repaired for more than 100 years.
Biodiversity Explorer reports communal nests over 100 years old, continually maintained by successive generations.
-
Sociable weavers hardly ever drink water.
Even in the dry Kalahari, sociable weavers rarely, if ever, drink from pools of water.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance notes that the species rarely, if ever, drinks from water sources.
-
Weavers build nests on telephone poles.
Telephone poles are now the most common human-made place for sociable weaver nests.
Telephone poles are the most frequent artificial nest site, alongside pylons, tank stands and wind pumps, allowing colonies into treeless areas.
-
Other animals use the weavers' nest too.
Many other animals, including insects, reptiles and other birds, use sociable weaver nests for shelter. Tiny pygmy falcons even live in some of the chambers.
Insects, reptiles and other birds shelter in the nest masses; pygmy falcons occupy chambers, and are also recorded preying on weavers.
Words to know
- colony
- a large group of animals of one kind living together
- chamber
- a small room, like each bird family's room in the nest
- helper
- a bird that helps feed chicks that are not its own
- arid
- very dry, with little rain
- savanna
- a warm, grassy land with scattered trees
- drought
- a long time with much less rain than usual
Discovery challenge
-
What do sociable weavers build together?
What do sociable weaver colonies build together?
What structure does a sociable weaver colony build and maintain?
- A giant shared nest
- A dam across a river
- A burrow under the sand
Show the answer
A giant shared nest
They build one giant nest with lots of rooms.
They build a huge shared nest with a stick roof and many separate rooms for families.
A communal nest mass with a twig roof and a grass substructure holding many separate chambers.
-
Where do sociable weavers live?
On which continent do sociable weavers live in the wild?
Which region makes up the sociable weaver's native range?
- Southern Africa
- South America
- Northern Europe
Show the answer
Southern Africa
They live in southern Africa.
They live in Africa, in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
The species is endemic to southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
-
Who helps feed baby weavers?
Who helps parents feed sociable weaver chicks?
Which birds usually act as helpers at sociable weaver nests?
- Nobody helps
- Older brothers and sisters
- Eagles
Show the answer
Older brothers and sisters
Big brothers and sisters help feed the babies.
Helpers are usually young birds from the family's earlier brood.
Helpers are usually young from the previous brood, sometimes only 25 to 30 days old, and occasionally unrelated birds.
-
What do weavers need before they lay eggs in dry places?
In very dry areas, what has to happen before sociable weavers breed?
In arid areas, what triggers breeding in sociable weavers?
- Snow
- Rain
- A full moon
Show the answer
Rain
They wait for rain.
They wait until about 20 millimeters of rain has fallen.
Breeding begins only after roughly 20 mm of rain; in severe drought colonies may not breed at all.
Places where you might see it
-
Watch
Country
Namibia
Namibia lies on the southwestern coast of Africa. The Namib, a desert of huge dunes kept alive by sea fog, runs along its coast, a high plateau with farms and wildlife fills its middle, and the dry Kalahari lies to the east. Namibia became independent in 1990.
-
Watch
Country
Botswana
Botswana is a landlocked country in the middle of southern Africa. Deep Kalahari sand covers most of it, but in the north the Okavango River spreads into a huge green delta full of wildlife. Botswana became independent in 1966 and has grown more prosperous, helped by diamonds.
-
Watch
Country
South Africa
South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. A high plateau covers most of it, about 63.5 million people (2026) live there, and it has 12 official languages and three capital cities.
Experiments to try
Explore next
-
Watch
Animal
Meerkat
Meerkats are small members of the mongoose family that live in dry, open country in southern Africa. They live in groups called mobs, dig for insects all day, and take turns as lookouts, standing tall and calling out if an eagle or jackal comes near. Everyone helps raise the babies.
-
Watch
Animal
Superb fairywren
The superb fairywren is a tiny Australian songbird that lives in family groups. In the breeding season the male is bright sky blue and black; the female is brown with an orange-red face. Older family members help feed the chicks, and mothers even call to their eggs before the chicks hatch.
-
Watch
Animal
Secretarybird
The secretarybird is a bird of prey that hunts on foot. It strides across the African savanna on the longest legs of any raptor, walking 20 to 30 kilometers a day, and stamps on grasshoppers, mice, lizards and even snakes with lightning-fast kicks.
-
Watch
Country
Namibia
Namibia lies on the southwestern coast of Africa. The Namib, a desert of huge dunes kept alive by sea fog, runs along its coast, a high plateau with farms and wildlife fills its middle, and the dry Kalahari lies to the east. Namibia became independent in 1990.
-
Watch
Country
Botswana
Botswana is a landlocked country in the middle of southern Africa. Deep Kalahari sand covers most of it, but in the north the Okavango River spreads into a huge green delta full of wildlife. Botswana became independent in 1966 and has grown more prosperous, helped by diamonds.
-
Watch
Country
South Africa
South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. A high plateau covers most of it, about 63.5 million people (2026) live there, and it has 12 official languages and three capital cities.
- Watch What If? Lab What if birds forgot how to build nests? Nests keep eggs and chicks safe from predators and the weather, and birds build them in amazing ways: from twigs, grass, mud, hair and even spider silk. Imagine every bird forgetting how to build one. Then meet the birds that already manage without, from cliff-ledge murres to emperor penguins.
-
Watch
Animal
Adélie penguin
The Adélie penguin is a medium-sized penguin, about 70 centimeters tall, with a black back, a white front and a bright white ring around each eye. It breeds in summer on rocky, ice-free ground all around Antarctica, building nests of pebbles, and spends the winter far out at sea among the pack ice.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe the sociable weaver and where it lives.
- Explain how a communal nest is built and why it helps the birds.
- Explain what helpers are and how they support a family.
- Describe how rain controls when the birds breed.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 12 minutes
Talk about it
- How is a sociable weaver nest like an apartment building, and how is it different?
- Why might it help birds in a hot, dry place to share one thick nest?
- How have telephone poles changed where these birds can live?
Try at home or in class
- Build a mini 'communal nest': stuff dry grass or shredded paper into a shoebox lid and poke tunnels up into it from below with a pencil.
- Put a thermometer inside a box stuffed with paper and another in the open, and compare the temperatures on a warm afternoon.
Key vocabulary: colony, chamber, helper, arid, savanna, drought
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Philetairus socius (Sociable Weaver), global Red List assessment 2024 , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Philetairus socius (Sociable weaver) , Biodiversity Explorer, Iziko Museums of South Africa
- Sociable Weaver (Philetairus socius) Fact Sheet , San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library
- Sociable Weaver Fact Sheet: Behavior & Ecology , San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library
- Sociable Weaver Fact Sheet: Reproduction & Development , San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.