Yesterday morning we were sitting outside just having a cup of coffee and I saw the most remarkable thing.
In our garden we have wild aloes growing which are flowering at the moment. They make the most beautiful red flowers and it is a pleasant splash of red to contrast with the brown colors of winter.
As we were sitting discussing the flowers and what they mean to our ecosystem a small little green bird flew down from the tree and landed on the flowers. I asked what kind of bird it was and what its role is.
It was explained to me that it was a Sunbird and like bees it helps with the pollination of plants. They are tiny little birds only averaging 13.5 cm and they only weigh about 11 g. Even though they are so small they mean a great lot to our eco-system.
They feed mainly on small insect and pollen. They are fast flyers and move so quickly that you really have to pay attention to them to notice all their colorings. They will land on a plant and take up the nectar and fly off and digest it, then come back to the same plant and repeat the process again.
The male has beautiful coloring, of purple, green and red. They actually “shine” when the sun is on them. The female is dull in coloring, she is brown and white, she will have brown streaks on her bell and has a brown head.
They are mostly found in woodland areas and in gardens, where there will be flowers. The males have the bright colors so that they can attract a female with which they will mate with for life. They also build small pear- shaped nests that are often “stolen” by Klaas’s Cuckoos. The Cuckoo will actually lay its eggs in that nest and the Sunbird will raise it as its own.
We have almost 400 different species of birds, some tiny, so amongst the very largest in the world, but they are what actually makes African safaris fascinating for safari connoisseurs as well as photography buffs.