letting nature back in

Our small garden attracts a number of species of birds across the seasons. Here are some photos I snapped of visiting birds over the past few months. The delicately hued laughing doves (Spilopelia senegalensis) are among the more numerous of our visitors.

A Cape robin-chat (above) perched in a flowering tree in our garden. (I am yet to identify the tree.)

One of the most regular visitors to our garden are Cape-robin chats (Cossypha caffra), mostly seen singly, although we often see a pair together too – they form monogamous breeding pairs. Male Cape robin-chats are known to be highly territorial, for example chasing off other males, so possibly we only have two individuals from the breeding pair visiting our garden? Perhaps though, some degree of territorial overlapping is tolerated, especially outside of the breeding season, and so other individuals may also visit. Cape robin-chats are among the most eager users of our garden birdbaths.

Also daily visitors to our garden are southern double-collared sunbirds

Tiny and exquisite, southern double-collared sunbirds (Cinnyris chalybeus) never cease to be enchanting.  When I say they are tiny they weigh around 8 grams (0.3 ounces) and are about 12 cm (4.5 inches) in length, including the tail. Southern double-collared sunbirds are endemic to regions of South Africa and to Eswatini (Swaziland) and the southern border area of Namibia.

Although in some ways they may remind one of hummingbirds, sunbirds are from a different taxonomic family. Sunbirds occur in Africa, Asia and Australasia, and hummingbirds in North and South America. Although they can hover, sunbirds usually perch when feeding on nectar from flowers, unlike hummingbirds that hover when feeding from flowers.

Another angle on a male southern double-collared sunbird. One of the yellow pectoral tufts (small patches on either side of the chest) can just be seen. These tufts are not always visible.

When not breeding, male sunbirds lose their bright iridescent breeding plumage and resemble the relatively drab females. Female southern double-collared sunbirds are grey with slightly paler underparts. In the Western Cape the southern double-collared sunbirds’ breeding season includes the rainy months of winter – they breed from March through to September – whereas in KwaZulu-Natal they breed in early summer (October to December), which is the wet season there.

A male malachite sunbird in eclipse plumage

The breeding plumage of male malachite sunbirds (Nectarinia famosa) is a bright metallic green – a similar green to that of malachite stone, hence the name. However, in eclipse plumage, when malachite sunbirds are acquiring their breeding colours ahead of the breeding season, they can appear quite blotchy, as can be seen in the bird in the above photo. In the Western Cape their breeding season is May to November.

Malachite sunbirds are relatively large, with males being 25 cm (9.9 inches) in length and weighing about 20 g (0.7 ounces).  The smaller females average 15 cm (6 inches) in length and weigh 15 g (0.5 ounces). Malachite sunbirds are much larger than the southern double-collared sunbirds.

A southern red bishop in eclipse plumage. Red bishops are only occasional visitors to our garden

In August, many of the southern red bishops (Euplectes orix) visiting our garden were males in eclipse plumage, but now most of them have their full breeding colours.  Southern red bishops are colonial nesters, predominantly in reeds and bulrushes. In the Western Cape they breed from spring into the months of summer.

On the left (above) is either an adult female or a non-breeding male southern red bishop. On the right is an adult male in breeding plumage

Southern red bishops are seedeaters and they are much heavier in proportion to their size than the much slighter sunbirds, which are predominantly nectar feeders.

A male fiscal flycatcher watching out for prey while perching in our garden

A pair of fiscal flycatchers (Sigelus silens) are regulars in our garden. We usually see one or both perched silently in a tree or on a fence watching for prey. They are very confiding and often perch close by when we are in the garden. As the name implies, they are predominantly insectivorous, although they do include some nectar or fruits from specific species of plants in their diet.

A juvenile fiscal flycatcher chirping as it perches in our garden

Fiscal flycatchers spend a lot of time perching so as to keep a look out for prey. Most prey they catch on the ground, but they are also known to briefly fly out to hawk flying prey on the wing.

Another predominantly insectivorous feeder often in the neighbourhood is the fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis).  Drongos are feisty and intelligent birds. For more about them see here.

A fork-tailed drongo enjoying some late afternoon sun

In contrast to visiting insectivorous birds, such as flycatchers and drongos, are the mainly fruit-eating speckled mousebirds (Colius striatus). In addition to a wide range of fruit, their plant-based diet includes also buds, flowers, nectar and leaves. They are very sociable and often forage in trees and bushes in groups, and group members sleep clustered together at night.

Speckled mousebirds are indeed a mousy colour – these birds were photographed in a friend’s garden. The upper mandible is black and the lower is pale. Strangely enough, in juveniles this colouration of the bills is reversed

When they are foraging, speckled mousebirds often adopt unusual postures. Two of their four toes can grasp either forwards or backwards, and so they can grasp onto vegetation in a versatile manner and even suspend their bodies below the level of their feet, sometimes even hanging upside down.

A male Klaas’s cuckoo perching in the carob tree in our garden

The Klaas’s cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas) is a brood parasite, and its commonest host species are batises, small warblers and sunbirds, including the southern double-collared sunbird and malachite sunbird.  In our first summer here last year, I often heard the call of the Klaas’s cuckoo in our neighbourhood and less often the call of the Diderick cuckoo (Chrysococcyx caprius). Last spring, only a few times, I heard the call of the red-chested cuckoo or Piet-my-vrou (Cuculus solitarius).

The Cape weaver is one of two species of weaver that visit our garden

The Cape weaver (Ploceus capensis) is the commonest weaver in our neighourhood. In our previous garden in KwaZulu-Natal very few visited, with the commonest weaver being the village weavers (Ploceus cucullatus) that even spent periods building nests in our garden. I am yet to photograph the southern masked weavers (Ploceus velatus) that visit our current garden only occasionally.

A Cape weaver perched on our garden washing line. With light rain falling, tiny beads of rain settled on the bird’s back can be seen, and a falling rain drop looking like a falling needle is visible in the photo

Cape weavers can be a very vocal presence in the garden. Roberts VII Multimedia Birds of Southern Africa: PC Edition describes the song as being “a long sequence of chattering, wheezing and bubbling notes on 1 pitch” and “gradually fading out without clear ending”. Somewhat amusingly to us, the song “sometimes speeds up and intensifies”, and it usually lasts 7-10 seconds, but can go on as long as 27 seconds.

Other vocal garden visitors are common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) also known as European starlings. Roberts describes their song as comprising “whistles, rattles, squawks and trills”, often incorporating mimicry of other birds. They are not indigenous to South Africa, but have naturalised in some parts of the country. It is thought that birds captured in the United Kingdom were first released in South Africa in Cape Town by Cecil Rhodes in 1897 and at first their range was confined to parts of the Western Cape, but in the 1970s they were recorded as having spread to KwaZulu-Natal

They have been introduced and can become invasive in other continents and countries outside of their native range elsewhere too, including in North and South America and Australia. Interestingly, there has been a decline in their numbers in their native range in parts of Europe, perhaps because of increasingly intensive agricultural practices and a consequent reduction in the availability of small invertebrate prey.

The common starling is an introduced species that has adapted to living in South Africa where it is closely associated with people –  in urban areas and in agricultural areas where there are irrigated fields

The intriguing white chevrons or spots at the ends of the feathers are most obvious in new feathers after the annual post-breeding moult, but these pale ends wear off and the birds appear progressively more uniformly black over time.

An indigenous bird that has managed to significantly extend its range is the hadeda ibis (Bostrychia hagedash). One factor in this increase in range is the occurrence of alien trees that provide nesting sites in previously treeless areas. A hundred hears ago it was considered to be a threatened species – for more see here.

A young hadeda ibis looking for food in our small garden in the Overberg

Hadeda ibises featured prominently in several posts about our garden in KwaZulu-Natal. Perhaps one of the most intriguing was a post on midwinter sunbathing that included photos of a  number of hadedas sunbathing together as a group.

The last photo in this post on sunbathing was of our Ridgeback dog Rory, when he was also indulging in basking in the midwinter sun. I have sad news to report about Rory, our wonderful friend and companion. He already had an issue with his back, but chronic pain medication kept him relatively comfortable. However, a sudden deterioration about two weeks ago, meant that we took the sad decision that euthanasia was the kindest option.

Not only do we miss him terribly, but his canine friend Amy, his feline friend Ella and our other two cats do too. At the time when we were starting to think about relocating to the Western Cape in 2022, I posted this tribute to Rory.

Rory at the beach in August last year

Posted by Carol