About Amblyospiza albifrons (Vigors, 1831)
The thick-billed weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons), also known as the grosbeak weaver, is a distinctive, bold species of weaver bird native to the Afrotropics. This species belongs to the monotypic genus Amblyospiza and the subfamily Amblyospizinae. Thick-billed weavers have particularly strong mandibles, which they use to remove seeds from nutlets and drupes. Their songs are comparably harsh and unmusical. The colonial nests built by this species are easy to tell apart from the nests of other weavers, due to the nest's form, placement, and the fine strands the thick-billed weavers use to construct them. These birds habitually fan and flick their tails. Thick-billed weavers have a patchy distribution across West, East and southern Africa. They live in marshes, uplands, suburban areas and artificial wetlands. This species breeds in reedy wetlands; outside of the breeding season, it can be found along forest edges.
