Weaver Bird with Grass Stem

Some weaver birds used old nests from the previous year as the basis for new construction, with fresh green blades of grass interwoven with dull brown. Others, possibly young birds who were serving their weaving apprenticeships, started from scratch, beginning by tying a single blade of grass around a suitable twig, and then weaving more strands together to form a circle. This was then added to, gradually forming the inverted bottle-like construction of the finished article.

It was not obvious to me how the finished structure would retain the eggs, but the businesslike activity of the birds as they weaved new stems into the structure showed that they knew exactly what they were doing.


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