Not what you think it is.

Oh yes, it's a lemon, but it's not what this post is about.

Something delightful is taking place inside the lemon tree.

It happened first in our small front garden, that I have shared with you recently and now it is happening in our back garden that is not much bigger than the front one. My wife was out hanging some washing on the line, and she called me to come and see what was fluttering around in the lemon tree.
Oh, I was overjoyed at the gift that Mother nature once more bestowed upon us. But I talk too much, so come and see what was busy in the lemon tree.

Now what was that? Could it be a male Southern Double-collared sunbird? And could that be a new nest that he was inspecting?

Yes, indeed, as he popped down to sit on a branch.

How's it sport, he said. My wife liked the way that you guys protected the new babies in the front garden, and so we decided to come and build our nest here in the back garden. Hope that you will not be charging us a rental fee?

Suddenly the wife also popped out from her hiding spot in the tree.

It's all right Sandi, he shouted up at her, the guy said that we can build our nest here.

They are building the nest right in the corner. But we can see it from the window at the left of the tree.

So, madam continues with the building of her nest, and I took the 2 photos below through the glass of the window at the left. Sandi was hard at work.

The husband sat in a sunspot below, supposed to be on guard, but you can see that he was nodding off in the warm sunlight. It's a long day being a sunbird!

Amazing how in the weaver post that I shared recently, the male builds the nest, and in the sunbird's case, it is the female that builds the nest. Then in some other species, both the male and the female build their nests. I will have to do some research in order to find a reason why this is so.
In any case, the female sunbird takes 25-30 days to build the nest. Then she sits on the eggs for 13-16 days. Then when the eggs hatch, the babies stay in the nest for 15-19 days, and then they leave the nest. Both parents feed the babies. For approximately 23-27 days the babies still get fed out of the nest, until the babies are 42-46 days old.

Source: Book Sasol Birds of Southern Africa. ISBN978-1-77584-668-0

So, some happy days ahead as that little guy is the best singer of the sunbird species and we will hear his twinkling tunes every day in the back garden.

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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