...as we saw a little bird wearing a crown like a king or a queen.
It is a Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis) so come and watch its antics with that crown.
Like the last winter season, they are now again building a nest, in the same flowerpot that they built it in last year. This time it was a wee bit different, as last year one of them wasn't wearing a crown:)) I think it might be a king, as he flipped his crown as a greeting to us, which you can see below. They are cute little birds, and the name Wagtail was given to them because they flip their tails up and down when they walk.
The Cape wagtail is a monogamous, territorial solitary nester, and breeding pairs stay together over a number of breeding seasons. Like many territorial birds, the males will fiercely attack their own reflection when seen in mirrors or windows. The nest is built by both sexes and consists of a cup made of a wide range of materials, both natural and artificial, which is lined with hair, rootlets, wool and feathers. The nest is situated in a recess within a steep bank, tree, or bush, or in a man-made location such as a hole in a wall, a pot plant, or a bridge.
It breeds all year round but, egg-laying peaks from July until December (mid-winter to early summer). Between one and five eggs are laid, which both parents take turns incubating for 13–15 days. Once hatched, the chicks are fed by both parents, until they leave the nest after 14–18 days. Once fledged, the adults continue to feed them for another 20–25 days, and the young become fully independent around 44 days - 60 days after fledging.
And so, it gave me some great one-legged poses.
I told you that it flipped its crown at our applause.
Just a daisy, to show you that we had light rain a while ago.
And here was the other one, also with some feathers to line the nest.
If you read the sourced section at the introduction of the post, you would have seen that they say that they also build their nests in potplants.
You can see the one coming in at the top left of the photo.
Then it was time for the parents to take a break.
They build their nests at the art center coffee shop, and as it was cold and windy we sat out right beneath the potplant's frame on the verandah. My intention for the visit was to see if I could find the owls or the peregrine falcons again, but no such luck this time round. But we were not disappointed as we love all the bird species, and the pair of wagtails consoled us with some poses.
It is also great to see that both parents build the nest, as in other instances like the sunbirds let the females build the nest. However, in the case of weavers it is the males only that build the nests. Sadly, the weaver males each have to build many nests until the fussy females are happy with the nests. The females normally reject the first three or four nests, and then the poor male continues to build until the female accepts the nest. Thankfully, this is not the case with the wagtails, as both build the nest.
Such is bird life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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