Speke's weaver, Ploceus spekei, photographed at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, Africa.
Image: Dan Logen, 23 January 2010 [velociraptorize].
Nikon D2X, 600 mm lens X 1.4, ISO 320, f/5.6, 1/200 sec
Question: This African mystery bird is fairly common throughout much of its range. Can you identify this species?
Response: According to the photographer, this is an adult male Speke's weaver, Ploceus spekei. Unfortunately, this species is impossible to distinguish from the male Heuglin's masked weaver, P. heuglini, from this one image.
According to Stevenson and Fanshawe's The Birds of East Africa, the breeding male Speke's weaver is larger and has bold black and yellow patterning on its mantle, whilst the adult male Heuglin's masked weaver has a lightly mottled greenish olive mantle. But you can't see either of these field marks in this image. (The photographer, Dan, is in Africa at this time, so I cannot email him to learn how he identified this bird or to obtain more photographs of this individual).
We can rule out yet another very similar weaver; Fox's Weaver, P. spekeoides, based on location. Even though the adult male of this species is similar to Speke's Weaver (Fox's Weaver has a very dark back, plain yellow rump and shorter tail -- none of which are visible in this image), Fox's Weaver is limited to Uganda.
So the best we can say, based on this one image and on the location where the photograph was taken, is this can either be a male Speke's or Heuglin's masked weaver.
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