Tracking an elusive Malachite!

Count yourself lucky to get one shot of the Malachite king of the Songbirds.

I got several, but let me show you our #wednesdaywalk.

The Malachite (Nectarinia famosa) is the kind of bird that can disappear in a flash and they are not fond of any strange movements near them.
Once he takes off, he will not return for hours, so it is best to stay as still as the flowers 🙂
Let's have a look at our walk.

The same place, Lourensford wine farm where we went yesterday and I was determined to get more shots of my first Malachite of the Spring season.

Kiddies enjoying the fountains as the new spring season is warming up things here rapidly!

Malachite taking nectar from a red Protea Pincushion flower!

Then it popped over to a yellow Protea Pincushion bush!

Now why would I call this male Peacock above a lucky guy?

Simple, he's got 3 wives, one to do the cooking, one to do the washing and the third one to do the shopping 🤣

This dragonfly looks like a member of the "Family Libellulidae" and also a first as the dragonflies only arrive in late October.

Finally, this was all that I could get of the Malachite's take off, as then he was gone!

Some songbird information that I have not published before;

"Longevities of southern African sunbirds
The Birds of Africa handbook lists 81 sunbird species in Africa (excluding the Indian Ocean islands species), but there are few longevity records outside southern Africa. Although generally small, many southern African sunbird species have reached longevities over 8 years. The two sugarbird species are also included in the table below. The oldest known sunbird is an Olive Sunbird of 14 years 10 months (ring AC03697) in Malawi. See longevities of other birds here".

Source

And here's more information on the Protea Pincushion plants!

"Leucospermum is a genus of evergreen upright, sometimes creeping shrubs that is assigned to the Proteaceae, with currently forty-eight known species. Almost all species are easily recognised as Leucospermum because of the long protruding styles with a thickened pollen-presenter, which jointly give the flower head the appearance of a pincushion, its common name. Pincushions can be found in South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique".

Source

And That's All Folks!

All that I can say here in conclusion is that it is such a great feeling to see the first Malachite of the spring season and to get him on camera is always a special occasion.
We hope that you have enjoyed the blog and please keep yourselves safe during the Covid storm!

I leave you with this!

“Health is the new wealth. Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Kindness is the new cool.” —Syed Balkhi

Note: All photos are my own and taken with a Canon Powershot SX60HS camera!

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