It has been almost four months since the helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) last visited my garden. The summer heat has taken its toll on various plants, and the seeds of the weeds, which they normally feast on, are not present at this time in my garden. Even the grass has died back some, and not producing any seeds for them to munch on. However, this morning I looked through the window and saw almost 15 of them in the garden! Immediately I grabbed my camera and went in search of some photographs! I took almost 200 photographs, and I will do three posts on them this week. This is the first post, tomorrow or so I will either post some nice portraits photographs of them screaming. It is quite comical. I will then also do a piece in the Hive Garden community writing about the tribulations of these birds who come into the garden and destroy all the young plants. For now, please join me as I ran through my garden behind them!
We haven't had rain in something like 4 weeks, and the rain of 4 weeks ago was minimal. In short, it has not rained for something like 2-3 months. I have stored up a month's worth of rain in my storage tanks, but they have run dry. We live in a water-scarce area and my garden is quite big. The plants are not heavy drinkers, they survive the sun and dry climate, but the weeds do not. For the avid gardener, this is good, but this is not good for the birds like the helmeted guineafowl who feed on the seeds.
Even though my garden does not have that much food (hence them not visiting for these last couple of months!) it is good to see so many chicks in the family. I think I counted six, ranging from very young to almost adult young ones! Yes, the numbers are not that good, modern housing and cars make it impossible for their numbers to flourish again, but in this situation, I think their numbers are strong.
If I counted correctly, in the above photograph there are about 10-ish birds. You can also the damage they are doing to my garden! I guess they are searching for bugs or seeds, or both. This is not a problem unless you have small new plants! like I had. Trials and tribulations, right?
Running from the one part of the gander to the other, they saw me and did not like my presence. The usual family that visits my garden is used to my presence and I could crawl up close to them. This large family was very skittish and did not like my presence at all.
The baby tried to get away from me. I managed to snap a quick photograph before it dove into the thicket.
Almost to the other side of the wall and the end of my garden, they jumped and flew over to the neighbor's garden........ only to find the dogs! Now, I stood in their path, and the dogs on the other side spelled danger, so they did not know where to go. I stood to the side, but they remained in the wall. I managed to get a few nice portrait close-ups of them screaming, which I will post somewhere in the week. What a funny moment! They flew away and I was left alone in the garden, but then I saw all the damage they left behind.
All in all, they are magical creatures. If you look at them closely, they become almost otherworldly. They are majestic and beautiful. I hope you enjoyed the little adventure. Until the next one! All of the photographs were taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron Zoom lens. Let us hope for some rain so that the weeds can come back and litter the garden with seeds for these beautiful birds to visit again. Stay safe, and happy birding!