Lives of the big and small...

...and I will also show you a problem solution. This post is about birds.

First the big, and it's a junior African Harrier Hawk (Polyboroides typus).

I also saw two or three crows attacking a falcon, but they were too fast and too far away for me to get it on camera. The sky is alive with birds here now in early spring, and we are starting to warm up. They say it's going to be a very hot summer as if all our other summers are not hot enough already. There is also talk about impending drought in areas, as apparently, we did not have enough winter rain. The rain felt like it was enough, but figures show that it was not as much as last year.
In any case, let me show you the birds.

I got only two shots of the harrier hawk.

Here below is the problem and the solution.

Now what do you do when it's hot and you need a bath?

You simply commandeer the closest water source, even if it is a doggie-bowl.

Just look at that face of the Cape Robin-chat (Cossypha caffra). A top problem-solver.

As a line break, I will use this beautiful male Southern-masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus).

And finally, our beloved Malachite sunbirds.

A snappy and alert Malachite male sunbird (Nectarinia famosa) on a red Protea Pincushion flower.

This guy can sip nectar and disappear in the blink of an eye.

And here below, is Mrs, Malachite sunbird. That bee in the flower must watch out as she will grab it.

But thankfully, the bee survived as she was only interested in the nectar.

A strange thing that I observed is that nobody else takes photos of the sunbirds, or any birds for that matter at the places where I go to get the birds. They take pictures of the flowers, especially the pincushions, and a malachite bird can sit right in front of them without them even seeing it. A few times now I have showed the birds to the people with their cameras, and they are always delighted to see it, snapping away with their cameras to get the bird.

The birds have gotten used to me, as I go around often and they don't seem to mind even when I search for their nests. Maybe the new lot remember me from taking photos of them as babies, which I have also shared in my blog on Hive. Beautiful little things when they are small, and still beautiful even when they become adults. Nothing like us as human beings, as when we are young, we can be attractive, but when we are old, we are all full of pleats and sinews.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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