I remember my grandad's words clearly:
"Dis alweer daardie donnerse vinke. Hulle maak net vuil waar hulle gaan."
It's those damn weavers again. They just make it dirty where they go.
His lawn was clean, the oak leaves rakes, the grass cut, the garden tidied. Then while he sits on the porch drinking a beer with us (we were not of drinking age but he let us have a sip), he brings out his slingshot and all of the acorns he collected. He tells me and my brother he will give us R50 ($4) if we hit one. At that time, it was a game, we did not know better. We never got one though, I think my granddad just wanted to keep us busy. But he did not like the weavers. And I never really knew why. They could not have made that much of a mess. Alas.
In any case, red-headed weaver (Anaplectes rubriceps) visited us when we camped and they were amongst the many starlings. They are just as beautiful and cute. All puffed up in the early morning sun, it was still relatively cold. Someone threw out some crumbs of the previous night's feasts, and they arrived in their droves.
It is a red-headed weaver, but to me, it looks like their heads are more orange. Maybe it is a female or a juvenile one, but I can see the red a little bit.
They can also add to the mix of many voices with the starlings. Every morning at around 7 am they arrive to eat the seeds of crumbs people leave outside for them.
Even though there is enough for everyone, they still fight as if there is a scarcity. It is funny to look at them when they act this way. It is also incredible how tame they are. Some of them almost sat on our feet.
In the mopane trees, they almost blend in. At least to me with my half-color-blind eyes. (I have Deuteranomaly.) So sometimes they just disappear into the tree for me. But sometimes they pop out and I see them and others not.
In any case, I hope you enjoyed my random thoughts and the beautiful bird. They were really beautiful. I wish I could feed one with my hand! But that never happened.
For now, happy birding, and stay well.
All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm lens. The musings are also my own.