A pair of Cape Glossy Starling are nesting in this popular nest site in a dead tree in front of our house at the moment. It makes for some great photographic opportunities. Here is a collection of some of the action as they ferry food items to the nest and carry the faecal sacs away
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Whilst they prefer perennial rivers and streams they are recorded at dams as is the case here. We normally have a pair that are seen every Summer on one of our dams. This season only the one individual has arrived. Hopefully another bird will join it soon Three image from a five frame burst as it took to flight one afternoon. I was very fortunate, and pleased, to get ''in focus'' images against a background of vegetation
I have been monitoring this nest hole that was excavated in a dead branch of a Buffalo thorn tree (Ziziphus mucronata). My patience was rewarded when a pair of Acacia Pied Barbets occupied the site. They shared incubation duties and now are both busy ferrying food to what I can ascertain thus far is a single chick in the nest A hungry chick alerted by the arrival of a parent with food Parent arriving with a beak full That disappeared quickly A quick pose for the camera This looks like pudding is on the menu Off again
Of the three nests being monitored, the one at ground level got washed out when water flowed in the strean bed. The owl nesting in the river bank had two chicks but sadly these were lost through predation. The nesting pair in the rock wall site also have two chicks and hopefully they will manage to raise them successfully. (See recent posts dated 09112022 and 31102022} The larger of the two chicks The smaller chick Vigilant female guarding her brood as they warm up on a rock ledge near the nest site The female with what looks like a leg ring ring close up showing some detail Look at the left pupil to see that it has been damaged. Observing the female at the nest site I noticed that the nicitating membranes were working constantly and I suspect she has impaired vision. One possibility is that the bird was ringed when it was in rehabilitation for the eye issue before being released The male of the pair on constant watch in a nearby tree
Proud pair of Red-billed Oxpecker parents Juvenile Red-billed Oxpecker Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver Cape Glossy Starling in soft evening light Hamerkop with crab catch Comb Duck male Golden-tailed Woodpecker male Spotted Flycatcher Red-backed Shrike male Village weaver male Southern Masked-Weaver male busy at work Female completing her nest inspection Purple-crested Turaco
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April 2024
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