Wait, Nature Will Come To You...
Sunday morning 11th October woke up to the soft gentle rain falling outside, no problem with good cover on the verandah I settled in with a coffee and camera. With the Natal bottle brush is is full bloom, signs of movement, I thought... make yourself comfortable and wait, nature comes to you!
0135 - 07h33 F-Stop f/6.9
Esposure 1/400 sec
ISO speed ISO-800
Focal length 172 mm
Here are the Sunbirds I saw during the morning out there, these are only a few of the many birds in the region which will follow in the upcoming weeks.
Fluttering small wings they started to arrive, check camera settings constantly for change of light and colouring of birds let the fun begin, they do not sit still nor do they stay very long.
0120 07h05 F-Stop f/8
Exposure 1/100 sec
ISO speed ISO-800
Focal length 172 mm
Soaring in and out of the bottle brush tree, a cacophony of tunes and movement all glittering in the dull light imagine them in the full sun!
Plain-backed Sunbird (Anthreptes reichenowi) is rarely seen, have selected this to be the Olive Sunbird (Cyanomitra olivacea)
Sunbirds are small, some smaller than others if this is the Plain-back Sunbird it is rarely seen, I have opted for the Olive Sunbird not being an expert in the field.
Drinking the nectar long and deep then flirting between the blooms all saying pick me waving in a gentle breeze heavy with water droplets. Now heading toward 10 am in the morning a little more sunlight through the cloud.
0164 08h32 - F-Stop f/6.9
Exposure 1/640 sec
ISO speed ISO-800
Focal length 172 mm
Slightly bigger than all those above the Malachite Sunbird is dazzling in full sunlight, alas I saw none once the rain cleared up.
0193 09h33 F-Stop f/6.3
Exposure 1/500 sec
ISO speed ISO-800
Focal length 120 mm
Altitudinal migrants in the Drakensberg Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa) these birds are also regular visitors in the Cape Province with fynbos.
Perhaps it was the gentle rain releasing soft perfume onto the breeze we humans would not notice, the birds kept coming, drinking leaving and appearing again before my eyes, an absolute thrill to sit quietly enjoying the morning air, chilly as it was, captured by their beauty I did not notice.
Photography taken between 06h30 to 10h00. A chance in a lifetime to see so many Sunbirds dancing between the flowers, vanishing them reappearing once again.
I have tried to identify after selecting the best of each that I managed to photograph from about 5 metres away in distance and 1 - 2 metres high in the tree.
As always with identification, I stand to be corrected, please advise in comments.
Entry for #amazingnature October No. 4 contest with @adalger - Most definitely #featheredfriends with @melinda010100 all within @dna.org
All photography is my own, any queries or requests please drop a comment below, have a wonderful day! Photography without tripod go with the flow wherever life takes you. Pictures are cropped or resized.
Thought for Today: "Only birds with long beaks can drink from deep pots." - African Proverb
Places to Enjoy On Hive: #powerhousecreatives hive-114105, #qurator hive-102880, #featheredfriends @melinda010100 in hive-106444, #wednesdaywalk @tattoodjay in hive-155530, #amazingnature @adalger in hive-127788, #alwaysaflower @dswigle in hive-154065, #feelgood community @barbara-orenya in hive-19093, #theterminal learn Hive @thekittygirl @brittandjosie in hive-101265
!pinmapple -29.01822 lat 29.43679 long Champagne Castle Drakensberg South Africa D3SCR
They are such beautiful birds and quite the acrobats, too! I find sitting quietly and letting nature come to me works best when I want to photograph birds. It appears you had a lovely morning! Thanks for posting to the #featheredfriends community
The tree was alive the whole morning, next day with no rain I never saw any of these birds again. Nature is amazing along with our little feathered friends.
Had hoped to capture in sunlight, Oh well I have one or two down here at home teasing me, patience game always wins...
Thanks for kind words and visiting @melinda010100
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Really nice flowers and birds photos ;)
Never seen such variety of sunbirds in one place at the same time, good fun.
I think I know these birds from Zac Smith's blog - they are all amazingly beautiful birds, and these flowers are not less beautiful I would say 😃
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Bottle brush looked like it was dripping in diamonds with water droplets, birds kept coming and going, a morning of absolute delight.
Yes I have reached out to Stephen/Zac at @papilloncharity to visit and check my assessment is correct, the region he is in tends to see these birds more readily.
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Yes, the flower looks really cool - we don't have anything like that here. That's rght, these birds are regular visitors and/or inhabitants in Zacs garden 😊
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We have quite a number of sunbirds seen throughout the land, it is amazing to see so many all in one place. Each province with specific flowers also attracts them into regions. Here at home we have the white-breasted sunbird visiting more than any of the others. Zac is my reliable source for confirming, outside of a community forum I am in.
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Oh yes, Zac knows the birds very well, and I think they know him too, because he shoots so many of them :)
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BEER.Greetings Lady Joan, some lovely photos here and the little grey sunbird is the Double-collared sunbird's wife!
That Amethyst is a beauty in the sunlight, but difficult to get his purple colors. Even more difficult in the shade.
Blessings!
I knew I would get at least one wrong, little ladies are really nothing like the male counterparts who are all so glamorous in colour enabling recognition.
That would be the 4th photo only, since the Olive back is quite distinctive in features. Was surprised at just how many sunbirds are up in the region, what a delightful morning watching them.
Thanks for visiting and for the advice Stephen.
Yes, in the 4th photo, but no need to worry as you got all of the others correct milady.
The males were made so glamorous for breeding purposes. Can you imagine how the males would kill each other if the females had the colors?
True wisdom here in their design!
My pleasure my friend!
Oh I have suddenly been blessed with two pin-tailed whydah males in the backyard, chasing each other, the weavers, mossies and everything in sight, you know how cheeky that little one is!
First time last year we saw fire finches which have returned this year, now this year a first with whydah birds, must be doing something right.
Thanks for clarifying the female sunbird, took hundreds of photographs and totally squint after going through them all, had to giggle since now my brother could now see what I was up to. Poor sight in his one eye he sat patiently but could not clearly see until I sent him a link to these photographs 😅
Wow! Two "kings of sixes" is indeed a gift and if one of them claims the territory there weavers and mossies have to watch out.
Yeah, I am sure that you are doing something right Lady Joan.
Shame and I bet that he enjoyed the photos once he had the link?
Papillon has made a newspaper here called the District Mail and we have been running around a bit over here doing things. Glad that the new partnerships are now taking off and we sincerely hope that we can repeat our successes that we had up north.
Hope that you guys will have a good weekend my friend!
Congratulations on news distribution paper in the area, I know how successful you were inland.
New city always takes time finding ones footing, most information is still best circulated by word of mouth, normally only through positive feedback, good luck!
Cooler wet weather in Durban today, hope the Cape has warmed up to ease your back and both you and Marian are well.
Thank you Lady Joan.
Slowly, slowly will do it my friend, as we started Papillon the same way. This time round we don't have such a big deficit and I think that growth will vome naturally.
The great thing about this is that we did not put Papillon in the paper, but one of our new partners did.
Monday we are 31C and hopefully it will make movements a bit easier.
Thank you for the kind wishes and also all of the best to you guys my friend!
Oh how lovely to have such a variety of beautiful birds coming to you in that beautiful bottle brush plant!
Loved seeing all the different varieties - so different from what we have here in Canada!
I was shocked at just how many arrived in the morning, very entertaining! One can only imagine the brilliant colours under full sunlight.
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful Friday.