It's a good thing that the mobile phone network has all but taken over for the landlines now. Sociable weaver birds (Philetairus socius) are building nests that seem to be tearing down all the phone lines in Northern Cape.

No other birds can compete with the complexity of these nests, housing up to hundreds of birds each. It's a survival thing. The temperatures in this region can be very high during the day and very cold at night, not what sociable chicks prefer. But inside these large nests, the temperature is nice and comfortably low all the time.