Two of my favorites on show.

The smallest and the biggest of the sunbird species with their iridescent colors.

At first, I will show you the smallest sunbird and his claim to fame is that he is the best singer of all the sunbird species that we have over here. His song can at times last for about 4 seconds, and I call it his twinkling song, as it is so distinct.
He is a Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus).

He dropped down onto a bush with that has small flowers, and he started to inspect it for a nectar drink.

It is still early in the winter season, and the King Protea flowers are not fully developed yet. The Protea flowers are an important food source for the sunbirds, as it is the sunbird mating season, and they will only start nesting when the flowers are in full bloom, so that their babies will have ample food when they come out of the nests. There are many protea flower species, and the sunbirds prefer to eat on the protea pincushion flowers as they are filled with nectar.

And here below is the biggest of our sunbird species.

It is a Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa). Very similar to the smaller sunbirds, this one has the same mating and nesting system, and they also wait until the flowers are in full bloom. It lacks in the singing department as maybe they can only get out one or two notes when they sing, their call is a loud, sharp whistling sound. So, the double-collared sunbird beats it hands down in the singing department.

Finally, the spot where I come to get the sunbirds is very close to the mountains, and whenever we are here, we get a real feeling that one can only get in the beauty of nature.

The thing about the strange new weather systems is concerning, as we have now been warned that a new cold front is on its way, and flooding is expected again. It is the people living in the shacks that we are always worried about. A notice was issued for them to dig furrows around their dwellings to prevent the flood water from washing the houses away. Most of them are situated in townships that are below the high-level water mark, and over the years many have lost everything that they own, including their houses, to the floods. Flood waters are so strong that they can wash cars away, and much damage to nature can occur.

It is also reckoned that the El Nino weather system is going to create even more havoc across the world, and of course we, here at the southern tip of the African continent, are also standing in the queue to wait for our turn. Not much good news about this El Nino thing as they are saying that it will be worse than the ones before. Almost as if we don't have enough damages already that occurred from the last storm, we now face a stronger weather system. We, as the human race, can't blame the weather for being mad at us, as we have not treated nature very well. Instead, we have successfully managed to destroy many wildlife habitats, and it is so bad that we have red lists of birds, plants, and animals that face extinction.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

Until next time, cheers!