...as I have decided to include a variety of unpublished bird species photos in here today.
First up, I wanted to show you the Southern Double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus) above in his full mating suit. (3 photos). Note the yellow epaulets on his shoulders.
Then you will see some tiny Swee Waxbills (Coccopygia bocagei), (5 photos) and I end the post with a Malachite couple (Nectarinia famosa), male and female. (2 photos).
He popped down to land on a Strelitzia flower and see how his colors blend in with the colors of the flower.
Came to give me a greeting look. A real proud little fellow.
The southern double-collared sunbird or lesser double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus) is a small passerine bird which breeds in southern Africa. It is mainly resident, but partially migratory in the north-east of its range. The call is a hard chee-chee, and the song is high pitched jumble of tinkling notes, rising and falling in pitch and tempo for 3–5 seconds or more.
Now let's see what I have here below.
This little Swee Waxbill is even smaller than the sunbirds, and the males have red in their lower beaks. The females don't have the red in their beaks.
Here a pair of them sat on a bush, and I was just in time to get them in flight. See the shot below this one.
They feed on grass seeds.
The swee waxbill (Coccopygia melanotis), is a common species of estrildid finch native to Southern Africa. The swee waxbill is 9–10 cm long with a grey head and breast, pale yellow belly, olive back and wings, red lower back and rump, and a black tail. The upper mandible is black and the lower red. The male has a black face, but the female's face is grey. Juveniles are much duller than the female and have an all-black bill. This species is a common and tame bird typically seen in small parties, and does not form large flocks. The swee waxbill's call is typically considered a soft swee, swee.
This one below is a female Malachite Sunbird sipping some nectar from an aloe flower.
And finally, her partner sat watching her.
So, I hope you are happy to see the different species in here and let me tell you that there are many other small bird species in our area. I will try to get them and to show them to you some time in the future. It is not always all of the big predator birds that steal the show, although I still have a couple of Harrier Hawk shots to show you, and we also watch the owls every day but for now I think that this is enough for this post.
The birds all have different calls and at times it sounds like an orchestra of birdsong early in the mornings, and we are always happy to hear them. I cannot imagine a day where there will be no more birdsong, as that will mean that life on this planet will soon come to an end. So, let's just hope and pray that that day will never come, but as I have said before we are fragile human beings and we depend on nature to keep us alive.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time, cheers!
