PHOtos of Weaver Nests

something here for most of u..go get Tz on this particular map, although most of you will have to wait until the next rains.
Neil

From: Dieter Oschadleus
PHOWN (PHOtos of Weaver Nests; rhymes with "own") is a new ADU Virtual
Museum project, where weaver nests or colonies may be photographed and
submitted. To take part in this project, you need to register as a
virtual museum participant. Then find weaver nests and take photos and
count the nests. It is currently the top item of Latest News on several
ADU websites (eg http://www.adu.org.za).

You can view submissions already made (without being registered) at
http://vmus.adu.org.za
and clicking on "Photos of Weaver Nests" --- There are different search
possibilities - explore these yourself! There are already 23 records of
a variety of southern African weavers in PHOWN.

To take part and submit your own photos, you need to register. Read more
details here: http://weavers.adu.org.za/phown.php.

Any weaver species (Ploceidae family) may be photographed.

To register, go to http://vmus.adu.org.za , click on "Registration" down
the left hand side menu, and fill in your contact details (if you have
an ADU number, use this and your email to obtain your password). Your
password is emailed to you. You use your email address and password to
"LOGIN" (the bottom item on the same left hand side menu). Once you have
done the LOGIN, the left hand side menu gets longer, and you can do
"Data upload".

PHOWN (PHotos Of Weaver Nests) is a monitoring project aimed at
determining the distribution of colonies or nests of all weaver species
globally. Counting weaver nests and taking photos allows tracking of
changes in weaver breeding effort. Many weavers are common and this
project provides an easy way of monitoring them, while some weaver
species are threatened and this project would help their conservation.
The software for the ADU Virtual Museum projects were written by Rene
Navarro and the current software allows users to submit photos directly
to the web, rather than emailing photos as was the case with the first
project (SARCA, Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment). PHOWN
is the fourth Virtual Museum project and is being launched in time for
the 2010 breeding season. In the Western Cape Southern Masked and Cape
Weavers have started to build nests.

So take your camera while birding!

Dieter
--
Dr H. Dieter Oschadleus
Dieter.Oschadleus@uct.ac.za (or doschadleus@gmail.com)

Bird-ringing Coordinator, SAFRING
Animal Demography Unit, Dept of Zoology tel: (021) 650-2421
University of Cape Town fax: (021) 650-3434
Rondebosch 7701 RSA After-hours: 083-285-6889
SAFRING: http://safring.adu.org.za
Weavers: http://weavers.adu.org.za