First up is one of the new youngsters.
It is a Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus).
The southern double-collared sunbird is usually seen singly or in small groups. Its flight is fast and direct on short wings. It lives mainly on nectar from flowers, but takes some fruit, and, especially when feeding young, insects and spiders. It can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perches to feed most of the time. The call is a hard chee-chee, and the song is high pitched jumble of tinkling notes, rising and falling in pitch and tempo.
It was his call that alerted me to find him.
A bit lower in the tree sat a female Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis).
The Cape weaver is endemic to South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, occurring across much of the area excluding the Kalahari Desert from the Orange River in the Northern Cape south to the Cape of Good Hope then east to northern KwaZulu Natal and inland almost to Bloemfontein in the Free State.
The Cape weaver is a polygynous, territorial colonial nester, each male may have up to 7 females in a single breeding season. The males normally form colonies of between 2 and 20 males. Each male builds multiple nests within a small territory, which he vigorously defends against other males. Females test the quality of the construction of the nest by pulling at material on the interior; if it is acceptable the female adopts a hunched posture to indicate her readiness to mate. The nest is built by the male in about a week, and is a kidney-shaped, fully waterproof construction made of broad strips of grass or reeds that are woven together.
She was searching for something, and let's see what it was.
Ah! A beakfull of some soft material to place inside her nest.
And here below in our back garden was the wife of the Southern Double-collared sunbird.
Searching the flowers for some nectar. First on a lower plant stem.
And then on the top flower stem.
Finally, she went to inspect the donkey-tail plant to see if its flowers will bloom soon.
Can you imagine being surrounded by lovely small birds every day. There are some even smaller than these, and even though it is difficult to get them on camera, I managed to post some of them in the past.
Southern Africa covers a land area of approximately 3,5 million square kilometers and has a high bird diversity. More species breed here than in the USA and Canada combined. The region's bird list currently stands at 989 species.
Source: Book. Birds of Southern Africa. ISBN 978-1-77584-668-0.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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