The Sunbirds return

We have a very busy (euphemism for cluttered!) veranda as you can see from the picture, but what you can’t see are the numerous dangly bits that hang from the rafters! We have shells, wooden fish, fishing corks, lanterns (we can’t use them as the wind blows the candles out!), a beautiful warthog wind catcher, a wooden bird that flaps its wings, a small green watering can, rope, various old kitchen utensils collected from Hospice shops, and a star-shaped wire ornament. We also have two half barrels that contain ficus trees (one thriving and one a little wind-swept), plus the usual table and chairs. Last winter we noticed that a pair of Malachite Sunbirds were showing an interest in the star-shaped ornament and before too long they had started to build an intricate nest with spider web and dried grass. These beautiful birds are supposed to be shy, our bird book says that they ‘do not frequent suburban gardens.’ Well, obviously the birds haven’t read the book. Not only were they in the garden, they were nesting a metre from our door! Once the nest was completed, the female sat herself down and only left occasionally to sip nectar from the aloes and to bath in the watering can that spurts into a half barrel fish pond! She didn’t mind us at all as we came and went past her door, but she was not happy with strangers on the veranda. She tolerated Alfie, but not the cats!! We always knew when a cat was outside by the volume of the call and the male would actually dive-bomb them!

veranda

She sat tight through wind and rain, mind you, she was well protected from the rain, but with no bottom anchor, the nest swung about in the wind! Then the babies hatched! We could see two beaks and these kept both the parents busy all day, feeding and cleaning the nest. After each feed, the female carried away a little ‘rubbish sac’ to deposit far from the nest. Day by day we watched the babies as they vied for food and grew almost too large to stay in the nest. Then it was time for the maiden flight! Rob suddenly realised that as the nest was free hanging, there was no place for the babies to land. They would have to aim directly for the opening of the nest, with no room for error, one slip and the cats were waiting with open mouths and condiments! So, we pushed one of the half barrels over the tiles, so the top branches would give a landing next to the nest! One of the babies was noticeably smaller than the other, ‘he’ flew with difficulty and needed a helping hand to get back into the nest. Many times he made it as far as the bougainvillea and then sat in the sun, resting and getting his wind for the next hop. A few times Rob literally gave him a helping hand back home, so we named him Digit! They flew and grew daily, and we watched them return each evening, counting heads till they were safe! Digit by now was feeling strong and independent and mum had to coax him home very often as he messed about in the trees long after bed time.

nest in the wire star

All this time we had heard a plaintive bird call which we finally identified as the Klaas Cuckoo! These birds parasitize sunbirds (among other species) and had obviously been observing the sunbird nest. Shy and secretive, the female will remove any egg from the nest before laying her own egg. The young cuckoo hatches after twelve days and will eject any eggs or hatchlings of the host. Our sunbirds were lucky this time, they raised their own young, and actually managed to raise two more sets of young before the breeding season ended and they flew off and peace returned!

male Malachite having a bath

Guess what? For the last two weeks we have heard the cuckoo calling, the sunbirds have been back for a while, but not to the veranda. They examined the old nest, it waited faithfully for them all summer, but they decided to build elsewhere rather than renovate. They are close by, we see them and they continue to bath in the watering can.

'Digit' in the Bougainvillea

I wonder whether they will be lucky again? I hope so!

'Digit' ready to leave home