That flower was at a guess about 10-15 meters up in the air.
At first, I have a cactus plant, that we think is a Torch Cactus (Echinopsis Trichoncereus spachianus) to show you opposite the road from us. (4 shots). Then I have a Red-winged Starling on show (3 shots), and finally a baby sunbird. (3 shots).
I spotted that flower as I emerged from our house this morning, and then I took a short walk across the road to take a closer look at it. I remember that we also saw it last summer season, and I think that I did a post about it. In any case, it was so nice to see it again, and to see how tall that plant has grown. We have also seen them at another farm that we visit occasionally, and one cannot touch the plant due to its long thorns. At least no one will get up there to try and take the flower, as it would be very dangerous and might end up in a hospital case. Lol.
Thankfully, we don't work on weekends, and I just wanted to show you the shots that I got on our way to the shop, and afterwards visiting an open-air coffee shop where I got the sunbird baby below at the end of the post. I always keep an eye out wherever we go on the things in nature and in the sky. Imagine, for instance, how high that bee flew to inspect the flower for some pollen.
Come and see.
As you saw in the tag picture above, there was a bee inspecting the flower.
This below was when I first spotted the flower up high above the trees.
Then I took the shot below to show you the plant's setting.
As we stopped at a shop, I parked the car, and this Red-winged Starling below landed on that pole.
We have many species of starlings here and the Red-winged Starlings (Onychognathus moria) seem to rule, especially at feeding time. The poor little European Starlings do not get a chance to feed on a tree when there is a flock of Red-winged Starlings around. I think this one was waiting for his wife, as she was at the hairdresser. Lol.
And I was happy to hear that he started calling.
Finally, this was a sunbird baby, and it was too early for me to make a call about what specie of sunbird it is, as it was very small. At a guess, I would say that it is a female Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus).
It was that peeping sound that alerted me to the little one's presence.
As usual, the mom was also around to keep an eye on the baby.
And a happy mom saw that her feeding training of the baby was working, as the little one was pecking around in search of food.
I have to tell you that we have another little female Southern Double-collared Sunbird here at our house, in the front garden. The little one almost flew in through our study window but sadly I didn't have my camera with me, as I was working on the PC. I will be sure to share a post about the shots that I took of her. And believe it or not, her mom was also around, but the dad has become elusive as he stays away. I hadn't seen him for the whole week, but the mom and the baby are around every day as the Honey Suckle flowers are blooming, and sunbirds like the honey suckle flowers because they have much nectar for them to sip.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos and words by Zac Smith. No AI and no Photoshop. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time. Shalom!