Social Weaver, Etosha National Park, Namibia – Image 2663

My website usually only shows images of Alaska. But for next couple of months, I plan to show images of Africa that I took last October while visiting South Africa and Namibia. The sparrow-sized social weaver lives in an “apartment house” in the trees. Dozens of pairs of these little black-chinned birds cooperate year-round to maintain a thatch like roof over the colony, which may contain 300 chambers (one per pair). The thatched mass sit in a tree and may be 7.5 meters (25 feet) across and 1.5 meters (4.5 feet) deep. The birds enter the apartment nest through multiple entrance tunnels at the bottom of the massive nest. Enjoy the photos and thanks for visiting. Camera body: Nikon D300, Lens: Nikkor 18-200mm, digital capture© Mark Kelley