Loxia philippina Linnaeus, 1766 The baya weaver (Ploceus philippinus) is a weaverbird found across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Flocks of these birds are found in grasslands, cultivated areas, scrub and secondary growth and they are best known for their hanging retort shaped nests woven from leaves.

They are widespread and common within their range but are prone to local, seasonal movements mainly in response to rain and food availability.

[2] In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the baya weaver in his Ornithologie based on a specimen that he believed had been collected in Philippines.

[3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[4] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Loxia philippina and cited Brisson's work.

[5] It was subsequently realised that Brisson was mistaken in believing that his specimen came from the Philippines and the type locality was redesignated as Sri Lanka.

They are known to glean paddy and other grain in harvested fields, and occasionally damage ripening crops and are therefore sometimes considered as pests.

[2] The breeding condition is initiated by environmental characters such as day length and comes to an end late in summer.

The nests are often built hanging over water[20] from palm trees[21] and often suspended from thorny Acacias and in some cases from telephone wires.

[32] Nests are often built from thorny Acacia or palm trees (mainly Phoenix sylvestris[33]) and hang over open water.

Males are almost solely in charge of nest building, though their female partners may join in giving the finishing touches, particularly on the interiors.

[43] Histochemical studies have shown increased lipid metabolism in the crown region of male Baya during the breeding season.

Lipids are known to be involved in the transport of the yellow carotenoid pigments that form the crown and are subsequently metabolized.

Males alone have been seen to add blobs of mud and dung to the nest chamber prior to pairing with a female.

According to Edward Blyth "the truth is, that the feats performed by trained Bayas are really very wonderful, and must be witnessed to be fully credited.

Its nests are so ingeniously constructed as to defy the rivalry of clever artificers.Túkúra Sorai (Assamese: টোকোৰা চৰাই); baya, son-chiri (Hindi); bayya chirya (Urdu: بیّا چڑیا ); ବାୟା ଚଢ଼େଇ (Odia); sugaran (Marathi); tempua (Malay); sughari (Gujarati); বাবুই (babui) (Bengali); parsupu pita, gijigadu/gijjigadu గిజిగాడు (Telugu); gijuga ಗಿಜುಗ (Kannada); thukanam kuruvi, ആറ്റക്കുരുവി (Malayalam);[51] thukanan-kuruvi, தூக்கணாங்குருவி (Tamil); wadu-kurulla, tatteh-kurulla, goiyan-kurulla (Sinhala); sa-gaung-gwet, sar-buu-daung စာဗူးတောင်း (Burmese); bijra (Punjabi: ਬਿਜੜਾ ); suyam (Chota Nagpur), bagra(Maithili).