Although rather common, the Village Weaver has an incredible story to tell and is fascinating to watch. These brilliant yellow birds always seem to catch the eye of the guests as they display and work on their nests, which often overhang water sources. They like to choose these areas as it makes it more difficult for predators to get to their nests and eat their young.

The males work hard building nests and then display whilst hanging on the nest trying to impress potential suitors so as to acquire a mate. If his display manages to attract a female she will come and inspect his nest to see that it fulfils her requirements, if not she will rip it apart and he will have to start the weaving all over again.

What truly amazes me is how all animals have the ability to adapt to their environments and maintain their numbers. One of the ways that nature has ensured that weavers do not become overpopulated other than predation is parasitism.

Cuckoos, in this specific case Diederick Cuckoos, are responsible for the brood parasitism in other birds. They will mate and the females have an uncanny ability to lay an egg incredibly quickly and will do this inside the nest of its host. It is thought that the birds have the ability to count and therefore the cuckoo will throw one of the host bird’s eggs out so that there is no suspicion that the nest has been tampered with. The host bird will then end up rearing the cuckoo young as if it were its own and because of their size they will often out compete the hosts young for food, killing it passively or in some cases it might actively kill it by throwing its competition out of the nest whilst still on the egg or even peck it to death.

Now as much as this sounds like it is a one-sided affair in which the cuckoos have an unfair advantage, the weavers still have some tricks of their own to slow the predation down. The older females would be able to recognise an egg that is not her own and expel it from the nest. The most impressive response has been realised over the last decade of research which has shown that despite the pickiness of the female weaver when it comes to nest design, the overall designs have changed slightly, making the entrance tube longer and thinner than done previously, which makes it more difficult for the cuckoos to get in and out of the nests. There have even been recorded events where cuckoos have died from being stuck in the entrance. Just sit back for a second and contemplate the incredible intelligence it requires to change a design that has worked for thousands of years in a matter of a decade.

The story doesn’t end here...the cuckoo too has realised that the weavers are on to them and have had to make changes in its own behaviour in order to ensure their own success. It has been noted that the cuckoos are targeting the first time mating couples as they do not have the experience gained by the rest of the birds. I mean, WOW!! This is but one example of millions, of how nature maintains a perfect balance all the time.