It is always the most beautiful when I turn on the irrigation system, making a fine sort of mist for the plants to get some water in the heat, and the Cape White-eyes begins to play in the water. A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to capture the moment that these small birds take a bath.. In that post, you can see how these small birds literally "glide" of "skid" across the leaves to wet their bodies.
When I turn on the water, I almost immediately start to hear their chirping. I think they are always on the lookout for some water. Or, I am always lucky to find them close by when I begin to water the garden.
They puff their little bodies up when they find water, and as noted, they glide over the leaves. Their chirping fills the garden with a beautiful symphony of sounds, and I sometimes leave the water on for longer just to witness them play.
I am always lucky to actually see them play, as they always move so quickly. Luckily, I have grown used to this and I always try to anticipate their movements when I go in with my camera. Sometimes, in fact most of the time, I am too slow for their quick movements.
Nature surrounding us is so beautiful. We should really just slow down to appreciate everything. But this is not always possible. It feels like life is moving ever faster, making these slow moments almost impossible. Our attention spans are shortening, our work demands more and more from us, and the little time we have to appreciate the beauty of life, we rather spend scrolling our phones in search of more bad news to fuel this strange desire.
But if we are lucky, we can slow down, take deep breaths, and see these small birds just going about their days. It is really something to behold, especially when you can immerse yourself in their environment. You can then really hear, feel, smell, and touch every single part of their world. They fly past you, over you, close by, almost like their are teasing you. But in the end, they are just trying to catch a bath in my garden.
For now, happy birding, and keep well.
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by this little birdy. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens.
