Day 703 – It doesn’t count, but…

I know that in some people’s eyes, grabbing a shot of a bird on a bird table – especially one attracted there by the magnificence of a stale Ouma’s buttermilk rusk – doesn’t “count” as a real photo.

And yes, I completely get it. I even agree.

But there is still space for images of birds on bird tables, especially ones like this vociferous fellow, who you can hear everywhere in the cottage garden, and who is all about the stripes and the spots and the colour, but is also hugely elusive, so I’ll take this “cheat” shot for now.

He’s an Acacia Pied Barbet (Acacia didn’t know, lol). Says my bird app:

The diet of the acacia pied barbet (Tricholaema leucomelas) species consists of fruit from different trees like phoenix reclinata trees, ficus and rhus trees, nectar from aloes, and insects.

And expired rusks.

Day 584 – What this blog isn’t

This blog isn’t simply going to be a list of posts including photos I have taken of birds. I know there’s been a lot of that of late. But recently, there have been a lot of birds in my vicinity and it was either ignore them completely (which would have been very rude) or take their photos. I’m generally not a very rude person, and so I’ve been taking their photos, and in the absence of being able to do much else at the moment, I figure I may as well share them here.

This little guy might be big on your screen right now but he’s actually just 7cm long and weighs about 8g. That’s less than a R5 coin. On the plus side, he’s actually worth more than a R5 coin in dollar terms, and that’s because our economy is utterly buggered.

He’s a Swee Waxbill (Coccopygia melanotis), part of a small flock that have become regular visitors to our back garden; possibly to visit the plentiful selection of birdbaths and the regularly refilled bird table, but most likely just because of the sparkling company on offer.

Come back tomorrow for possibly fewer bird images with accompanying text.