BIRDS C – D

Blue Cranes are the National Bird of South Africa, making it all the more delightful to see them in the wild.

You know spring has arrived when you hear Klaas’s Cuckoo calling. I hear them daily, but find them very difficult to see and even more difficult to photograph.

Pied Crows, on the other hand, abound.

It is in the Kruger National Park where I am more likely to see an African Mourning Dove.

While summer brings with it Fork-tailed Drongos in the garden.

I spotted this African Black Duck in the Pilanesberg National Park.

MAY 2023 GARDEN BIRDS

This is probably the shortest bird list I have published here before: I have been away a lot this month and even while at home have been buried in the red tape of applying for visas for our forthcoming trip to visit our children living abroad …

Red-winged Starlings have continued to dominate the garden as the crop of Natal figs have kept them busy. I love watching the sun catching the russet parts of their wings when they fly over the garden. This one is perched on the top of the Erythrina caffra, which has now lost most of its leaves and will soon be covered with scarlet flowers.

Every bird report includes the Laughing Doves because they always seem to be around. On our return from spending nearly a week in the Western Cape though – and no food provided for them in the interim – they took a day or two to return to being their gutsy selves.

The African Green Pigeons have also enjoyed the figs and as these came to an end, so has their presence. They have doubtless found another source of food somewhere within the town.

I hear Black-collared Barbets often, but have seen little of them this month. I suspect they are still wary of the cats next door. Having said that, I am thrilled to see a pair of Cape Robin-chats gradually becoming bolder. The other day I put out a block of cheese and spent several joyful minutes enjoying watching them coming out of the shrubbery to feast on it.

Two Black-headed Orioles also took turns to feast on the cheese.

Olive Thrushes muscled their way in too and frequently chased the other birds away.

A pair of Fork-tailed Drongos mainly swoop around the back garden, favouring a different Erythrina caffra to perch in.

Advance warning: I will be away for most of June and July, so those bird lists will be both very late and very short and I will be very quiet until my return.

My bird list for this month:

Red-winged Starling
African Green Pigeon
Black-collared Barbet
Blackeyed Bulbul
Blackheaded Oriole
Bokmakierie
Bronze Manikin
Cape Robin-chat
Cape Weaver
Cape White-eye
Common Starling
Common Fiscal
Fork-tailed Drongo
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Greyheaded Sparrow
Hadeda Ibis
Knysna Turaco
Laughing Dove
Olive Thrush
Pied Crow
Redeyed Dove
Rednecked Spurfowl
Sombre Bulbul
Speckled Pigeon
Village Weaver

GROWTH

Life goes on in the cycles it has followed since the world began. I have been thinking about the many things that have made me happy in my life and my thoughts naturally turn to my children and grandchildren. I could fill pages of cute baby photographs compared with the adults my children have become and how my grandchildren have turned into interesting people – but I won’t. Well, to warm to the theme of growth, let me slip in one idea of how little hands later become large hands capable of doing so many different things:

We tend to think of living things when we mull over a theme of growth. While rust does not reproduce or eat in the way a living organism would, it is a chemical reaction we are familiar with the consequences of: if we leave rust alone it will destroy almost anything – like this cannon:

Think of growth in a different way, such as in how each puzzle piece contributes to the growth of a complete picture:

Then, back to the living as we admire peach blossoms that will, in time, turn into delicious peaches:

Baby fork-tailed drongos will grow to adulthood and will, in time, end up feeding young of their own:

Finally, among the many small pleasures that keep me alert whilst providing peace for my soul is the way single letters – combined with brainpower – fill a crossword grid. That is a very satisfactory kind of growth!

MARCH 2023 GARDEN BIRDS

“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!” So said the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Well, watching the birds in our garden has been an activity snatched between others during what has proved to be a very busy month indeed. Whiterumped Swifts and Lesserstriped Swallows have bid us farewell to wing their way northwards. Here are two of hundreds of the latter gathered on the ground nearby prior to their departure.

Laughing Doves tend to dominate the feeding area, especially if I put the seeds out early, so I have successfully experimented with changing the feeding times slightly and have been more irregular about it. Cape White-eyes are finding lots of berries and insects to eat in our autumn garden at the moment, while a number of Cape Crows have made raucous fly-pasts throughout the month – sometimes landing briefly in the Natal fig tree.

This is a changeable month with some birds leaving and others arriving. A newcomer is the African Harrier Hawk, which has flown low over the garden several times and occasionally lands in the Erythrina caffra. Even watching it flying above me, I can hear no sound – of course the birds hide immediately and they too make no sound!

Speaking of sounds: I love the sound of Cape Turtle Doves early in the morning and during the late afternoons so I am delighted they have made their presence felt once more. Their sound reminds me of growing up in the Transvaal Lowveld and the many adventures I had there.

Another delightful bird call is that of the Bokmakierie.

Forktailed Drongos flit about the back garden and deftly catch insects on the wing.

I am very pleased to see that the Streakyheaded Seedeaters are back this month.

My bird list for this month:
African Green Pigeon
African Harrier Hawk
Barthroated Apalis
Black-collared Barbet
Black-eyed (Dark-capped) Bulbul
Black-headed Oriole
Bokmakierie
Bronze Manikin
Cape Crow
Cape Robin-Chat
Cape Turtle Dove
Cape Weaver
Cape White-eye
Cattle Egret
Common Fiscal
Fiery-necked Nightjar
Fork-tailed Drongo
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Green Woodhoopoe
Grey-headed Sparrow
Hadeda Ibis
Knysna Turaco
Laughing Dove
Lesser-striped Swallow
Olive Thrush
Red-eyed Dove
Rednecked Spurfowl
Red-winged Starling
Southern Masked Weaver
Speckled Mousebird
Speckled Pigeon
Streakyheaded Seedeater
Village Weaver
White-rumped Swift

JULY 2021 GARDEN BIRDS

This month the Cape White-eyes were the first on my list as a few of them worked their way through the bushes and waited their turn at the nectar feeder. They are delightful birds to observe and I take pleasure in watching them peck at the cut fruit. Their sweet reedy notes that vary in pitch and volume are often a giveaway that they are nearby. Of course the ubiquitous Laughing Doves are not slow to float down from their lofty perches in either the Erythrina caffra or in the skeletal looking Dais cotinifolia – where they have been catching the early rays of sunlight – not long after the seed feeders have been filled.

It is good to hear the merry chirrup cheeping of the Grey-headed Sparrows. A pair of them are around more regularly now – usually after the doves have had their fill and there is both space and peace for these little birds to enjoy their food. While they have not been very prominent visitors over the past few months, the Fork-tailed Drongos are back to hawk insects in the air and to drink from the ‘pub’. This nectar feeder has had to be filled almost daily this month as there are few other readily available natural sources of nectar around.

One of the natural sources is the Erythrina caffra which is coming into bloom now. This tree hosts a variety of birds such as Cape White-eyes, Laughing Doves, all the weavers, Greater Double-collared Sunbirds and has attracted the return of the feisty Amethyst Sunbirds. The males seem to spend a lot of time chasing each other all over the garden.  There are Common Starlings galore as well as our indigenous Red-winged Starlings, all of which feast on either the blooms or the seeds still hanging from the branches, and come down to inspect what I have on offer.

You can see from its yellow beak that the breeding season is already upon us for some birds! A pair of Red-winged Starlings perched in the dry branches of the Cape Honeysuckle when the male decided to fly down for a closer look at the offerings.

There are times when all the bird song comes to an abrupt end and dead silence prevails. This is a sure sign of the presence of a raptor. Recently, I looked up in time to see a large African Harrier Hawk gliding towards the fig tree escorted by a pair of Red-winged Starlings. It had no sooner perched on one of the branches when a variety of birds flew up to pester it by calling loudly and flitting around it. The hawk soon left. Another, smaller, raptor made a rare appearance in our garden. This was a Black-shouldered Kite that flew low over the feeding area before perching on the telephone cable and then disappeared. The general avian chatter resumed straight after.

My bird list for this month:
African Green Pigeon
African Harrier Hawk
Bar-throated Apalis
Black-collared Barbet
Black-eyed (Dark-capped) Bulbul
Black-headed Oriole
Black-shouldered Kite
Bronze Mannikin
Cape Crow
Cape Robin-Chat
Cape Turtle Dove
Cape Wagtail
Cape Weaver
Cape White-eye
Cattle Egret
Common Fiscal
Common Starling
Fork-tailed Drongo
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Green Woodhoopoe
Grey-headed Sparrow
Hadeda Ibis
Knysna Turaco
Laughing Dove
Olive Thrush
Pied Crow
Red-eyed Dove
Red-winged Starling
Sombre Bulbul
Southern Boubou
Southern Masked Weaver
Speckled Mousebird
Speckled Pigeon
Spectacled Weaver
Streaky-headed Seedeater
Village Weaver