Good news, as the Malachite baby was at last out of the nest and we were there on the day that she came out. A real lovely little thing with a bad temper when she is hungry.
Look at this! Did I tell you that she has a bad temper?
I just had a feeling that she would come out of the nest and I was right.
Her parents were up and down feeding her as you will see later in the post. In fact the father even forced her after several attempts to eat a Praying Mantis.
I have popped in every day since the egg stage to check on the nest and by grace I was there on the day that she came out.
So come and have a look.
She was still in the nest during the morning, but some instinct told me to return in the afternoon.
And there she was, a beautiful little female Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa).
Feeding time for a hungry baby.
Mom arrived with something small for the baby.
Dad arrived with a butterfly, that was a little bit bigger but baby could eat it.
Next the dad arrived with a praying mantis.
And he tried to force it down the baby's throat.
But just look how the baby reacted here, she screamed. No, damn it, I am not eating such a big thing:)
Fortunately the mom arrived with a smaller bug and the baby calmed down.
I don't know what it is about us men. How could the dad ever think that the baby could eat such a large mantis? Now I know that we all have good hearts and we like to give our children big things, but we can certainly learn a lesson from this episode. The mom knows how much and how big the baby can eat, but the father reckons how bigger the food, how quicker the baby will grow. Not to be as you saw, he almost choked the baby, and I was glad that I didn't have to run closer in order to perform a Heimlich maneuver on the baby. For you that don't know what the Heimlich maneuver is, when a person chokes one has to move behind them and then fold your arms around their chest to jerk hard backwards in order to get the stuck object cleared out of the throat.
We are glad that it is now Spring here.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and the story.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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