...and a first to get him on the tree, as he struggled to fly in the strong wind.
Over here, the pin-tailed whydah often has 6 wives in his harem, and that's why we nicknamed him as Sixy. We had two of them on the apple farm some years ago, and we had great fun to see all of the tricks that this little bird can play on his enemies, which is even us, and any other feathered being such as chickens or anything else that enters his territory. He will dive down from the top of a tree to bomb them. We even saw him bombing a cat.
Another habit of sixy, is that he fights with himself on car mirrors thinking that it is a challenger and he pecks like crazy at the glass in the fight for more than half an hour. A fiesty little bugger that will protect his harem of six wives with his life. Out of the breeding season, he loses his long tail and his black and white suit and he looks just like the females. Maybe this is the sixy story of "Cinderella, from an ugly grey little bird to what you see in here, as he has his mating suit on. Lol.
The pin-tailed whydah (Vidua macroura) is a small songbird with a conspicuous pennant-like tail in breeding males. It is a resident breeding bird in most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. The pin-tailed whydah occurs in much of sub-Saharan Africa, favouring grassland, scrubs and savannah, also coming into parks and gardens. In Portugal it is established in the region around Aveiro, with observations occurring north and south of it. It has been introduced to southern California, with a sizable population existing there, as well as Puerto Rico and Singapore. It can be kept as a domesticated pet in the United States. It is also widely kept as a cage bird elsewhere, with occasional escapes and releases.
Look how he battled with that long tail, as he approached to anchor himself at the top of the tree.
The male pin-tailed whydah is territorial, and one male often has several females in his small group. He has an elaborate courtship flight display, which includes hovering over the female to display his tail. The song is given from a high perch,and consists of rapid squeaking and churring. The diet of this species consists of seeds and grain.
I didn't even notice that sixy had one of his wives with him, and here is the only shot that I could get of her face.
I have posted him many times years ago and forgot to tell you that one day on the farm a mongoose dared to enter sixy's territory. Now you know that mongooses are also cheeky buggers, and as sixy continued to bomb him the mongoose plucked out one of sixy's tail feathers as he almost had sixy, but not so as sixy flew back up to a tree. The mongoose won the battle, and my wife fed him some pieces of bread.
Such was life on the farm.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos and words by Zac Smith. No AI and Photoshop. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time. Shalom!