Streaked Weaver

Male in breeding plumage has a golden-yellow cap covering the forehead and crown, and a blackish face and throat. Dark brown above with rusty edges to feathers, and buffy white below with longitudinal dark streaks on the flanks and upper breast. Non-breeding males, females, and juveniles more similar to other weavers; they have a yellowish buff eye-brow that extends down around the back of the face, streaky flanks, and dark brown upperparts with long streaks on the back. More partial to water than Baya Weaver, nesting around reedbeds in wetlands. Noisy near breeding colonies. Males make a continuous chirpy “cheer” or “teaur” call, not as loud as Baya Weaver’s.

Streaked Weaver/Striated Weaver/පන් වඩුකුරුල්ලා (Ploceus manyar flaviceps) Locally common breeding resident inhabiting tall reedbeds in marshes and tank edges in the dry lowlands, mainly in coastal areas. Occasionally also visits similar habitats in the wet lowlands.

Food Habits: It eats seeds, including those of the grasses, rice, wheat, millet and sorghum. The young are fed chiefly with animal food, mainly insects, with grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, spiders and small snails. It forages in flocks, often with other Weavers.