Baya weaver

                            

The Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus) is a small passerine bird found in South and Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

Males have a distinctive yellow head and breast, while females have a more muted yellow coloration. Both sexes have brown upperparts and a distinctive conical bill that is used for weaving their intricate nests.

 The male Baya Weaver constructs an elaborate, enclosed nest from strips of leaves, grass, and other materials, which is suspended from the tips of branches and reeds.

 The female will inspect the nest and may make modifications before laying her eggs inside.

Baya Weavers are social birds and often congregate in large colonies during the breeding season. They are typically found in open grasslands, cultivated areas, and wetlands, and feed on a variety of seeds, insects, and other small invertebrates.

These birds are known for their remarkable nest-building skills and are often seen hanging their intricately woven nests in trees, bushes, and even telephone poles. The nests are woven in a complex pattern that provides ventilation, protection from predators, and insulation from the heat and cold.

Overall, the Baya Weaver is a fascinating bird species with unique behaviors and adaptations, and is a common sight in many parts of Asia.

Breeding

The breeding season of the baya weavers is during the monsoons. The breeding condition is initiated by environmental characters such as day length and comes to an end late in summer. This post-reproductive "photorefractoriness", in which photoperiodic birds cease to respond reproductively to the stimulation of long days, can end spontaneously without having been exposed to short days for four to six months unlike temperate birds.They nest in colonies typically of up to 20–30, close to the source of food, nesting material and water. Baya weavers are best known for the elaborately woven nests constructed by the males. These pendulous nests are retort-shaped, with a central nesting chamber and a long vertical tube that leads to a side entrance to the chamber. The nests are woven with long strips of paddy leaves, rough grasses and long strips torn from palm fronds. Each strip can be between 20 and 60 cm (7.9 and 23.6 in) in length. A male bird is known to make up to 500 trips to complete a nest. The birds use their strong beaks to strip and collect the strands, and to weave and knot them while building their nests. The nests are often built hanging over water from palm trees and often suspended from thorny Acacias and in some cases from telephone wires. Although the birds prefer thorny trees, they sometimes use avenue trees in urban areas. Nests are often located on the eastern side of the tree, where they are believed to provide shelter from the Southwest Monsoon; however, late breeders are more likely to build their nests in other orientations relative to the trunk of the nest tree