CAPTIVATING NATURE

Grosbeak weaver/Thick-billed weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons)

- The thick-billed weaver constructs a distinctive nest which is compact, woven with thin strips of reeds and hung between the upright stems of reeds.

-  It is globe-shaped with the entrance (unlike other weaver nests) near the top and facing to the side.

- The male weaves the nest with fine material leaving a neat impression, but the weave is in fact not as complex or developed as that of other weaver species.

- The initial entrance is large, but when a female has chosen the nest the entrance reduced to a narrow opening.

- Thick-billed weaver colonies may involve a single male, or may contain several males, and is usually established in a reed.

- Thick-billed weavers are polygamous, in that a single male attempts to attract and mate with several females.

-  A male may attract up to six females, and up to three nests may be active in any male's territory at once.

-  When found at low density there are many apparently monogamous pairs, but they normally nest in small colonies.

-  After mating the female normally will lay a clutch of 3 whitish pink eggs, spotted with red, purple and brown.

-  The incubation of the eggs is carried out solely by the female.

- This lasts 14 to 16 days and the chicks are fed by regurgitation by the female until they fledge, though occasionally the male may also feed the young.

- The chicks fledge after about 18 to 20 days in the nest.

- The nests are vulnerable to predation and recorded nest predators include the white-browed coucal, house crow and the Nile monitor.

- After the nests have been used by the weavers they may be commandeered by climbing mice, or used for breeding by the orange-breasted waxbill or brown fire finch.

    Did you know that:

-  Male impalas produce a scent from a gland on their foreheads to advertise their status to rivals.

TREES/SCRUB

         Common Name:  Castor Oil Plant

          Swahili Name: Mbarika

                           

 Usage and treatment

·         Part used- Roots bark,leaves, & fruits

v  Castor is a plant that produces seeds (beans). Castor oil is produced by pressing ripe seeds that have had their outer covering (hull) removed.

v  The hull contains a deadly poison called ricin. Castor oil has been used as medicine for centuries.

v  Castor seeds without the hull are used for birth control, constipation, leprosy, and syphilis.

v  Castor oil is used as a laxative for constipation, to start labor in pregnancy, and to start the flow of breast milk.

v  Some people apply castor seed paste to the skin as a poultice for inflammatory skin disorders, boils, carbuncles, pockets of infection (abscesses), inflammation of the middle ear, and migraine headaches.

v  Castor oil is used topically to soften skin, bunions and corns; and to dissolve cysts, growths, and warts.

v   It is also applied to the skin for osteoarthritis.

v  Some women put castor oil inside the vagina for birth control or to cause an abortion. Castor oil is used in the eyes to soothe membranes irritated by dust or other materials.

v  In manufacturing, castor seeds are used to make paints, varnishes, and lubricating oils.

v  Ricin from the hull of the castor seed has been tested as a chemical warfare agent. Weapons-grade ricin is purified and produced in particles that are so small they can be breathed in.

The smaller the particle size, the more poisonous the ricin. You may remember that ricin was found in letters sent to some Congress members and the White House, and in the possession of people linked to terrorist and anti government groups.