I've been struggling to identify this bird and I think there is a reasonable chance I've now got it right now. I photographed it below Nkima Forest Lodge and above the Mabamba Swamp near Lake Victoria in Uganda and it was in a tree right next to a black-headed weaver (which I also struggled to name). iNaturalist gave it as the second suggested option, which caused me to look at it. What appears to have finally clicked is that it is an immature red-headed weaver.
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| Illustration of a female red-headed weave, ssp. rubriceps, from Birds of the World. |
Birds of the World notes that it is highly distinctive, but geographically variable. Females and non-breeding males can be separated by their orange-red bill. However, immature birds of all subspecies have a browner bill. That was one issue I had with my photo. There is a photo of a female in Birds of the World that looks very much like my photo, except the bill is not as red and I have felt from the beginning that this bird is a fledgling.
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| Range from Birds of the World. |
The male has a bright red head and looks nothing like this bird, but I'm not going to get into that right now.
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