The sociable weaver of south, western Africa gets its name from building giant communal nests together with other birds of its species.

These nests are like small cities sometimes inhabited by hundreds of birds. Each bird has its own private apartment in the nest city.

The sociable weavers’ nests are built round the trunk of a tree, usually a big acacia tree, several meters above the ground. The nest is shaped like a sharply pointed roof, has a very wide base and the surface is sloped to allow rainwater to drain away.

Underneath the edge of this roof which is thatched with dry grasses, there are the holes which are the entrances to the various private nests where the young weavers are hatched.

Sometimes an extremely large number of birds work together to build a nest that is so large it looks like a hut for humans from a distance.