This Forest Canary didn’t seem to notice me sitting with my camera in a corner of the garden, and it approached really close, even drinking from the nearby birdbath before seeing me and flitting up into a tree. Continue reading “Wild and free canaries in the garden”
Small flocks of mannikins are frequent garden visitors, arriving in a sudden flurry often accompanied by high-pitched chirping. These are very small birds weighing only 10 g (less than half an ounce). Continue reading “Mannikins: Gregarious seed-eaters gracing the garden”
The Cape Robin-Chat rather paradoxically can be shy as well as confiding. These lovely little birds occur over much of South Africa where there is dense enough vegetation to provide for their needs. Continue reading “A charming visitor: The Cape Robin-Chat”
Bird parents are much more proactive than we might think. I have been told by wildlife rehabilitators that fledglings that fall from their nests a tad prematurely stand a far better chance being left where they are, than being scooped up by humans thinking to rescue them; the reason being that bird parents are proactive and continue to raise fledglings that have left the nest. Continue reading “Bird parents to the rescue: The day the baby sparrow fell from the nest”
The Cape White-eye is another of my favourite garden birds that is no less special for being a familiar presence in suburban gardens. Cape White-eyes forage busily in small groups and they are enthusiastic visitors to the bird baths where, after drinking, they bathe with much exuberance. Continue reading “Small and gregarious charmers: Cape White-eyes”
Nest building in the fever trees in our garden has been feverish. After what seemed like some practice runs building nests next to the palm tree used for nesting material, the Village Weavers abandoned these first efforts. They then congregated noisily each day to build nests and engage in flamboyant displays high up in the branches of the fever trees. Continue reading “Village Weavers: Summertime when the living is busy”
A persistent and insistent tseep-tseep-tseep outside the bedroom window attracted my attention. Looking out I saw a fledgling perching on top the fence to the cat’s garden, calling repeatedly, reminding its parent to feed it. Continue reading “A hungry baby flycatcher and its hardworking mother”
Usually I keep post-processing of an image to a minimum – confining myself to a bit of cropping, a bit of lightening/darkening and sharpening, and that is pretty much it. Continue reading “Experimental colour and light”
Plucky and petite, Southern Black Flycatchers are one of the most engaging of the uniformly black birds that visit our garden. Continue reading “Favourite garden birds: Southern Black Flycatcher”
letting nature back in 