Jackie Hangman

Tags

Bird, environment, Fiscal Shrike, Jackie Hangman, nature

The Jackie Hangman gets it’s name from the habit of impaling prey on thorns to store for later consumption. One of the reasons of this species success lies in its varied diet and clever hunting techniques. It often uses a sit and wait technique in which it hunts from a prominent perch, remaining almost motionless, scanning the area with its sharp eyes. When it spots something it glides to the ground and attempts to catch its prey. It has a varied diet of insects, frogs, reptiles and birds.

It gives a jumbled mix of shrike-like swizzling sounds including some imitations and a harsh Dzzzttt-dzzzt-dzzzt alarm call.

Jackie Hangman – Fiscal Shrike

The Cape White-eye

Tags

Bird, Cape White-eye, environment, nature

Cape white-eye (Zosterops pallidus)

This species is about 12 cm long with rounded wings, strong legs, and a conspicuous ring of white feathers round the eyes. The upperparts are green, and the throat and vent are bright yellow. The members of the nominate group have a pale yellow central belly with peach coloured flanks. The members of the capensis subgroup have a grey breast and belly, while the virens subgroup have a greenish-yellow breast and belly.

They are very vocal, and constantly keep in touch with soft trilled pee, pree or pirreee callnotes. The song consists of repeated long jerky phrases of sweet reedy notes, varying in pitch, volume and temp, usually starting off with teee teee or pirrup pirrup notes, then becoming a fast rambled jumble of notes, which may incorporate mimicked phrases of other birdcalls.

This is a sociable species forming large flocks outside the breeding season. It builds a cup nest in a tree and lays 2-3 unspotted pale blue eggs. The eggs hatch in 11–12 days, and fledging occurs in another 12–13 days. The peak breeding season is September to December.

The Cape white-eye feeds mainly on insects, but also soft fleshy flowers, nectar, fruit and small grains. It readily comes to bird feeders.

The Bird which cries Wolf

Tags

Bird, Cape Town, environment, Flowers, Fork tailed Drongo, nature, plants, South African endemic plant

The fork-tailed drongo is a common and widespread resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush. Two to four eggs are laid in a cup nest in a fork high in a tree.

These are aggressive and fearless birds, given their small size, and will attack much larger species, including birds of prey if their nest or young are threatened.

Observations show that the fork-tailed drongo in Africa are capable of using deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food from birds like pied babblers and animals such as meerkats. Tom Flower observed that fork-tailed drongos spend a quarter of their time following other animals. Sometimes when a predator is approaching, drongos act as sentries and warn their neighbours with genuine alarm calls. But drongos also earn quarter of their daily calories by sounding a false alarm, as in The Boy Who Cried Wolf, when the other animal finds food. When the meerkats and babblers flee from the non-existent predator, drongo steals their food

Fork tailed Drongo

Sunday with Sunbirds

Tags

Bird, Cape Town, coastal scrub, environment, Flowers, garden, nature

Southern Lesser collared Sunbird

This sunbird is common in gardens, fynbos, forests and coastal scrub.

The Southern Double-collared Sunbird is usually seen singly or in small groups. Its flight is fast and direct on short wings. It lives mainly on nectar from flowers, but takes some fruit, and, especially when feeding young, insects and spiders. It can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perches to feed most of the time.

The call is a hard chee-chee, and the song is high pitched jumble of tinkling notes, rising and falling in pitch and tempo for 3–5 seconds or more.

Naboom

Tags

Bird, Cape Town, environment, Euphorbia ingens, garden, Kwazulu-Natal, magnificent plant, Naboom, plant, plants, South African endemic plant, succulent, Wildlife

Naboom detail

Naboom

A few years ago while staying at a B & B in Kwazulu Natal, I took the smallest slip from a really neglected plant, never thinking for a moment that it would grow into this magnificent plant.

The Naboom (Euphorbia ingens) are easy to grow low maintenance plants, which make a wonderful addition to a rockery or succulent garden.

The flowers attract butterflies, bees and other insects, which collect pollen and nectar from them, pollinating the trees in the process. The seeds are a good source of food for many fruit and berry eating birds. Birds also like nesting in these trees; hole-nesting birds such as woodpeckers often use dead sections.

The latex of this tree is extremely toxic and can cause severe skin irritations, blindness and severe illness to humans and animals if swallowed.

 

Ballerina hedges

Tags

Bird, Flowers, Fuchsia, garden, hedge, honeybee, Hummingbird, nectar source, plants

Ballerina Fuchsia Hedging

One of the most hardy fuchsias around and not usually eaten by rabbits. Sometimes called the Hummingbird fuchsia as hummingbirds like it’s nectar!

These can grow up to 6 – 10 feet (1.8 – 2.4 metres) tall and are very vigorous in habit – making them perfect for hedging. Deep green foliage becomes smothered in crimson purple medium to small flowers.

Recommended by the RHS to be an excellent attractant and nectar source for bees and other beneficial insects.

 

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