You may have seen some of these photographs before – I cannot always remember the exact ones I have used from a folder. In going through my archives, I considered these six birds to be representative of the birds commonly visiting our garden. With the exception of the Spectacled Weaver (Ploceus ocularis), the others are seen throughout the year.
I would regard the Spectacled Weaver to be a semi-resident in our garden for there are periods of several weeks at a time when I do not see one at all.
They are easy to recognise as they retain their bright plumage throughout the year. The males differ from the females by having a black throat patch – as you can see in the above photograph. The black streak through the eye to ear coverts are responsible for the name of this weaver.
The gregarious Village Weavers (Ploceus cucullatus), on the other hand, are settled residents of the area. They are among the more common weaver seen in gardens and only seem to disappear for a couple of days at a time. They generally build some nests in our garden during the breeding season.
Breeding males sport a black bill, black and yellow upperparts and wings, with yellow underparts. They look similar to the females during winter with a drab-looking olive-grey-green crown and a grey-brown back. Their wings, however, remain yellow and black. As you can see, the eyes of the Village Weaver are reddish – useful to remember as eye colour varies between different species of weaver.
The colour red leads me to the Redwinged Starlings (Onychognathus morio) which have glossy blueish-black bodies and long tails. A narrow strip of reddish-orange is just visible on the wing when the birds are perched but opens out beautifully when they are in flight. It is easy to tell the sexes apart as the head of the male is black and that of the female is grey. The one below is a female.
These versatile and adaptable birds visit the Natal fig in our garden in large numbers during the fruiting season. Large flocks of them sweep across the neighbourhood during winter, seeking out fruit, berries and other tit-bits to eat. They are so common around here that we tend to take them for granted.
Another bird we tend to take for granted – until we notice its absence for a couple of days – is the Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus), which I see I have focused on at least a dozen times before in various blog posts! I simply love everything about these birds, from their behaviour to their looks.
They are common garden residents which are well adapted to life in the suburbs by searching for food on the ground by turning over leaves. I notice that any larger bits of food they find on the feeder trays are mostly taken back to the cover of the undergrowth to eat. I enjoy hearing them sing from a perch high up in a tree.
It is difficult to beat the Cape Robin-Chat (Dessonornis caffer) in the singing stakes. I adore these feisty little birds so much than I have also featured them here many times.
While these birds have adapted very well to human habitation, they remain wary of potential dangers and can be gone in a flash. Their outer tail feathers are orange, with a faded brown streak which is more easily seen when in flight. The Cape Robin-Chat is also easily identified by the striking black band across the face that resembles a highwayman’s mask. It is interesting to learn that these birds are monogamous, having one partner for life unless the other partner dies, in which event the surviving one will seek out new mate. They mate and maintain a territory for life.
Black and white are the predominant colours of the Common Fiscal (Lanius collaris) which feature fairly often in this blog, mainly because we daily see two recognisable individuals – Spotty (which has been ringed and has a black spot on its chest) – the one featured below – and Meneer (which has clearly visible white eye-brows).
These birds are ubiquitous throughout South Africa and are commonly seen hunting from exposed perches. The two mentioned above have chosen certain perches of their ‘own’ although frequently clash over the same source of food – tiny bits of cheese or meat I have in a special little tray for them. The males and females look similar except for the rufous lower flank of the female – which I have only seen once in our garden.
It is an entry to a delightful world of spectacular scenery, an array of animals and birds – as well as some unexpected experiences. I have posted about this park several times and in this one will focus only on the pictures taken with my cell phone. One of the unexpected experiences was the arrival of a very large Mountain/Leopard tortoise ‘crashing’ through the scrub next to our tent:
I soon discovered that there were three of these tortoises that used to wander around the camp during the day, nibbling on the lawn in front of the ablution block or feeding on the low natural vegetation growing on the edge of the rest camp. They are obviously used to people and the clicking of cameras for they paid us no attention. Birds are also used to the coming and going of visitors. This Cape Robin-Chat came right up to where I was sitting:
Another unexpected surprise was the daily arrival of this young female Kudu:
Here she is inspecting the (uninteresting) contents of our trailer. She came so close to me that I was able to stroke her:
All good things come to an end – you will be seeing more of the park in later posts – and we endured a heavy downpour on our last night. Although we remained dry inside our tent, the next day we had to pack up in the rain – hence the placing of the now wet tent on top of the trailer for the eight hour trip home. Here we are ready to leave:
Something Over Tea 