Hunting with a camera of course.
Oh yes, he was watching me and the secret is to stand dead still.
We had only this one sunny day amidst all of the storms and the Malachite decided to give me a show.
Today the new storm has arrived and it's saucing outside, so we are holed up inside our house. Currently 11C and will drop to 5C at some stage, we have a hope for snow. But I digress.
Come and join me on the hunt for photos of the Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa)
He even jumped lower down to give me a real inspection and I tried my best to look like an old dead tree hahaha.
Confirming that I presented no danger he popped over to this flower to take a sip of nectar.
Then he took a sip from a Strelitzia flower. Did you know that the tongues of sunbirds are shaped like a straw?
I turned very slowly to track him in a parking lot surrounded by beautiful gardens and flowers.
As above he continued to sip on the flowers and I continued to click my camera.
A lovely shot of him in the full sun.
Finally he was done and I was sure that he greeted me here with his traditional single note tweet.
Amazing how they can change color depending on the sunlight.
Fare thee well Mr. Malachite, thank you for the show and may you travel safely until we meet again.
For those that like to read here's more information about the Malachite.
They are endemic to the southern tip of the African continent.
This large sunbird is found in hilly fynbos (including protea stands as well as areas with aloes) and cool montane and coastal scrub, up to 2,800m altitude in South Africa. It also occurs in parks and gardens (often nesting within those located in the Highveld). It is resident, but may move downhill in winter.
This species, like most sunbirds, feed mainly on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. This sunbird may hunt in a similar manner to a flycatcher, hawking for insect prey from a perch.
Most sunbird species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time. As a fairly large sunbird, the malachite sunbird is no exception.
They have long thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to nectar feeding. Some plant species from which malachite sunbirds feed include many Aloe species, such as Aloe broomii, Aloe ferox and Aloe arborescens, and Protea species, such as Protea roupelliae as well as various other bird-pollinated plants such as Leonotis and Strelitzia.
It has been suggested that their behaviour of guarding flowering plants may have led to the selection and evolution of long-tubed flowers that would otherwise tend to be robbed (nectar taken but not pollinated) by short-billed sunbird species.
Source
Need I say more about this King of the sunbirds?
And That's All Friends!
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved
Camera: Canon Powershot SX60HS Bridge.
We hope that you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.
