Here is the famous Malachite Sunbird!
Look at this great pose by the King of the Sunbirds!
I was excited and lucky as I got my first Spring sighting of not one, but two young Malachite Sunbirds.
They love the Protea Pincushion flowers and when we arrived on the wine farm I kept an eye on the Protea bushes.
Not too long before I heard that familiar sunbird call and I was there in a flash.
Come and see!
Then he went about his business, but sadly took off.
A scene below next to the main entrance of the wine farm!
Here below is the second guy and thankfully he stayed a bit longer!
Those metallic colors are so prominent in the clear sunlight, but we had roaming clouds that covered the sun here!
Nevertheless, even in dappled sunlight he still looked great!
Some kind of a bee was approaching the scene here!
Our guy jumped to another flower head!
"The Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa),
This large sunbird is found in hilly fynbos, protea and aloe habitat and cool montane and coastal scrub, up to 2,800 m altitude in South Africa. It also occurs in parks and gardens. It is resident, but may move downhill in winter".
"Most sunbird species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time. As a fairly large sunbird, the malachite sunbird is no exception. They have long thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to nectar feeding".
This below is where we found the Malachite's!
"Some plant species from which malachite sunbirds feed include many Aloe species, such as Aloe broomii, Aloe ferox and Aloe arborescens, and Protea species, such as Protea roupelliae as well as various other bird-pollinated plants such as Leonotis and Strelitzia".
"It has been suggested that their behaviour of guarding flowering plants may have led to the selection and evolution of long-tubed flowers that would otherwise tend to be robbed (nectar taken but not pollinated) by short-billed sunbird species".
Source
And That's All Friends!
Note: All photos are my own, unedited and cropped for uploading!
Camera used: Canon Powershot SX60HS
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Oh WOW what a beautiful bird!! You have captured wonderful photos here. Your wine farm looks like the most amazing place! Very beautiful countryside. Reblogged.
Thank you kindly Lady @sallybeth.
The Malachite is a supreme sample of our sunbirds here and we like to visit the farms around us here.
We are now entering spring season and in a few weeks time the area will be brimming with wildlife again.
Glad that liked the post and thank you for the "Reblog".
Blessings!
I am sure you will get quite a few WOW's for these photos Zac.
What a beautiful little bird 🤩
He was posing for you on a beautiful flower that you could take such great shots 😀
I'm glad that I forgot to google, so I was even more surprised and impressed 🤗
Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote
!tip
Thank you kindly Hannes,
I thought that you would like it and dome more great news is that I found that bee that we were discussing recently. But you will have to wait for my insect post hahaha.
That first Malachite was indeed a real poser and maybe he was practicing to become a male model lol.
Also glad that you didn't Google as then I could not spoil your assumptions hahaha
Cheers and thanks!
Btw. They have cut us down to level 2 loadshedding, so thankfully no switch off tonight!
Ok, I will wait, and I am very curious 🤔
This bird is extremely beautiful and I am sure it knows that 😉
Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote
Yeah, I am sure that it will be a surprise 🤣
So many people are like that bird Hannes, but sadly not many can come close to the beauty of that bird. At least not in their hearts, because if they all did then this world would be a better place 😘
Cheers and thanks!
Now I am really curious and I can't go to bed until I have replied to these new comments 😂
Wise words my friend, if all hearts would be only half as beautiful as this bird we would all live in paradise 😊
Cheers and !BEER
At times I think that we all have taken life so wrongly Hannes.
What happened to the good advice like; "as you walk your road make sure that you have a kind word for all that you meet"
Nowadays people scurry past each other like frightened rats, not a nod of the head in greeting, or even a smile.
We have really lost it along the way!
Cheers and thanks and good night again 🤣
Oh what harsh words to end the day my friend.
But you are right. My mother always said "greet and be kind to the people, you never know if you might need them one day". I try to behave like she said, but sometimes it's not easy.
On the countryside where I come from the children still greet even strangers. My wife still finds it fascinating because she didn't know such. We have grown up only about 150 kilometers apart but people are different.
Cheers and !BEER
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Not harsh words Hannes, only truth my friend.
Be kind to everyone, as you never know if one could be an angel dressed as a beggar lol.
You have a very wise mother and I think that your wife grew up in a very protective situation.
Sadly today it is so much worse here as every stranger is regarded as an enemy, or a criminal.
150 kilometers apart could indeed be two different countries in the same county my friend hahaha.
Cheers and thanks!
I know, I just didn't find a better word 😉
I can only agree to all you say, my friend, even to the two different countries, because they even speak different - they have such a funny dialect, but don't tell my wife 🤣 lol
Cheers and !BEER
Hahaha, here you go looking for trouble with your foreign wife Hannes,
As you are connected to the police, ask them to keep any eye on the weapon shops and if your wife starts shopping there pack your bags and come to Africa hahahah.
Joking aside, in the big cities we have what we call city suburbs here. Believe me that most of the suburbs have different nations in each of them. One suburb is Pakistan, the next English, the next Indian, the next Jewish, the next Afrikaans, the next Sotho on and on we go.
So I can understand your situation as 150 kilometers will include 150 city suburbs over here.
Cheers and beer!
Good morning Zac,
there's only one problem: my wife works for the police too and she knows where my Glock is. So she don't need to buy a gun 😉
She has grown up near to the Styrian border. In Styria they talk another Austrian dialect. Do you remember Arnold Schwarzeneggers talking? He is from there ;)
Cheers and !BEER
Good morning Hannes,
Well in that case, if I was you I would keep my traveling bags updated hahaha.
One never knows if you would have to pull a hasty retreat lol.
I don't know if Gustaf and Arnold is related, but Gustaf is also one massive guy with muscles all over the place.
What sort of dialect are they talking? As for a moment I thought you were talking about Syria hahaha.
Cheers and thanks!
Good morning Zac,
I havent found this Gustaf, but never mind if you know him :)
Styria = Steiermark is in the north and east of Carinthia 😉 They talk an Austrian dialect and some say it's a kind of "barking" 🤣
Cheers and !BEER
Greetings Hannes,
"Barking"??? Surely they mean expressive pronouncing or heavy accents?
Bad news as they have changed the loadshedding hours. Now from 6pm to 8:00pm, so I am going to have to do all of the replies later.
Cheers and thanks!
Hi Zac,
I would say "expressive pronouncing" would match, but it's hard to explain if you don't speak German. Some tones sound like barking, really. Styrian is known as a barking dialect 😉
6pm? That's early and I think I won't be online later today. So, I wish you a good night my friend 😊
Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote
Hi Hannes,
I hear German often and it's also very pronounced, very much like Afrikaans.
Styrian I have not heard, but I think that I know what you are saying.
A good thing that you said good night Hannes, as I have left a few replies for you this morning, as it is now 12:06 midnight time here hahaha.
Cheers and thanks!
You say "a few" replies and you mean "a thousand" - I think I should send you a calculator, because yours seems to be broken 😁
If you listen to Arnold Schwarzenegger's English you will certainly hear what I mean, because his English is with Styrian dialect 😵
Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote
Oh my and I have such a special Chinese calculator, got it at a cheap throwaway price as well.
Amazing, now I know what you are talking about as man mountain Gustaf Schwarzenegger speaks in the same way. Strange that you can't find him, as I think that he used to work on the railways, but he is retired now.
He also likes to fish a lot.
Cheers and thanks.
If you had not bought it they would have thrown it away 😅
I have only made a Google search and found a Gustav Schwarzenegger who was the father of Arnold, but I haven't search deeper though.
Cheers and !BEER
The lesson is never to buy anything cheap hahaha
I will get hold of him on Facebook. Thing is that I am not often on FB anymore, but I have hinm in the messenger, so I will ask him where her stays.
Cheers and thanks!
That's right, who buys cheap often buys expensive.
I haven't been much on Facebook before and never since 2 years.
Cheers and !BEER
In Afrikaans they say the same thing; "Goedkoop is duur koop" meaning "Buying cheap is expensive" lol.
I recently had to log in with my details again, as FB suspended may account for the reason of "non use"
Will try today to go back in.
Haven't also closed my steemit account yet, even though I have not been back there.
Did you close yours?
Cheers and thanks!
I don't think you can close your Steemit account, at least I wouldn't know how to do it.
There are still a few Steem on my account which come but I don't make a powerdown for 4 Steem (13 weeks…). If the Steem should rise to $ 10,000 one day I'll be happy to take them out 😁
Cheers and !BEER
Ah, so I didn't know that it cannot be closed, but a good thing as you are right, if it goes to $10,000 you can get your van hahaha.
Cheers and thanks!
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Cheers and !BEER
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#posh share: https://twitter.com/ZacSmit18068838/status/1302274805970935812
Some very nice bird pictures. I myself have never seen one before that I recall even in pictures so it was very nice to see them.How large are they compared to hummingbirds, about twice as big?
Thank you and glad that you liked the pictures. So wish that you can see them live in the wild. Really beautiful guys.
They might be about 3 times the size of a hummingbird and our biggest sunbird here.
This year I will try to make a video of one of them hovering.
Cheers and thanks!
Beautiful bird. I've never been this far south.
14 days is a very short vacation time and South Africa is big. In a week I will catch only Kruger or Kgalagadi and the last night before departure for example Marakele or Pilanesberg. And I have a week to grab something in Botswana or Namibia. In addition to animals, I'm looking forward to great South African wine and braii. I would love to come back so much that it is indescribable.
Yeah, South Africa is indeed a very large country and there is many years of things to see here. We are at the extreme southern tip of the African continent, but of course Cape Town and it's surrounds are also tourist havens.
When you go to Botswana my favorite place is Chobe and in Namibia it is the Sossusvlei and Swakopmund.
Glad that you liked the post.
Cheers and thanks!
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Good going here and thank you kindly!
Always king @papilloncharity😉👍
You are very kind ❤️
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You are truly in your element here!!!! Spring is in the air, which only means that fall cometh soonish here!! I actually thought they were hummingbirds when I first saw them!
What striking beauties they are! Loving the vineyard in its spring coat.
In case I forgot to say WOW!!! I was thinking it. Sorry, it has been a while since I have made my way around the platform. Seems like for all the extra time we are given due to COVID, mine is eaten up and I never seem to have any!
Have a great day, my friend. Give Lady Marian a hug for me!
!tip
I will give Lady Marian a kiss meant for you, how's that my friend!
Yeah, at last spring is starting to display her beautiful residents and there are still some that I am waiting for. But the Malachite is hard to beat.
We also have another one, the Amethyst that is pitch black with a maroon chest and a purple cap on his head. Soon I pray that one will come and pose in my camera lens.
You have always been a busy lady, up and down all of the time and only occasionally taking a rest in some fancy tug out at sea, so I don't know what made you think that you would have more time during the Covid debacle.
Stay safe dearest!
Blessings and thank you for the kind visit!
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Thank you kindly Lady @dswigle
What a beautiful bird, I have never seen one or heard of it until now! He is a gorgeous bird his color is stunning. I like how he hops from flower to flower and that you got it on film.
Thank you kindly and I am glad that I could introduce the Malachite to you.
I will see if I can get photos of them in full sunlight to show the metallic color changes of the birds as at times they also turn into a deep blue color.
That would be awesome if you could I would love to see how the colors change in sunlight.
Let's see how it goes my friend!
Spring is officially here, yellow-billed kites have returned. Smaller white-bellied sunbird now teasing me with song, will capture a photo soon.
I do believe I saw the Amethyst Sunbird a brief appearance through the window so will have to be on the look out again for that one. Red-billed fire finch appearing once again, birds definitely don't sit for long enough to always capture a photo of them.
Thanks for sharing the beauty of birds, wishing you and Marian a peaceful weekend.
Oh yeah, Spring has arrived Lady Joan and we went for a walk today on the historic "Vergelegen Farm". Discovered the grave on one Samuel Kerr that died in 1905. Will post about it.
Glad that the birds are also starting to show up there and the Amethyst is indeed a beautiful sunbird.
We had loadshedding from 10am which gave us a great opportunity to travel the 6 kilometers to the farm.
Peace and blessings to you guys for the new week!
He is sooooo beautiful!
Thank you kindly and I am glad that you liked the post!
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Perfectly adapted for getting nectar out of those flowers.
Yeah, and the Protea pincushions are their favorite flowers.
I almost got his wife as well, but she is very skittish as it is still early spring here.
Thank you for the visit!
About how big are they?
Google the following; "Malachite bird, South Africa"
They have the sizes in Wikipedia.
Wow they are tiny wren sized birds.
Thank you and glad that you had a look!
Definitely WOW worthy! They are such beautiful birds and I am so glad that your springtime birds are arriving back, just as mine are leaving to migrate to warmer climates as Autumn approaches here. I love the photo that you got of him in mid hop between flowers! Thanks so much for posting these to The Feathered Friends Community. They are a joy to see
!tip
Thank you kindly and it is always that feeling of emptiness of emptiness when the birds take their leave.
We have had an abundance of water during our wet winter and I hope to see many new visitors to the valley.
I was lucky to get that hop shot and a pity it was not in color, but I cannot blame the clouds lol.
It is my pleasure to post it in here my friend and glad that you like the Malachite's.
Blessings and thank you!
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Oh such a beautiful bird and you got some wonderful shots!
Cool that you caught him jumping!
Thanks for sharing so we can become more familiar with the King of the Sunbirds!
Thank you and the camera cannot really show the stunning colors of the Malachite my friend.
A real showpiece that bird is.
Glad to have introduce the bird to you!
Your photo is great, it looks so clear
Thank you kindly!
What a lovely creature! I have never seen it before! Great captures, sir! 🤗
Thank you Sir @trincowski
They are indeed beautiful birds.
What gorgeous birds and such great shot of them :)
I hope your week has started well
Thank you JJ and yes, they are lovely birds.
Apart from the forced electricity cuts, the week has started well thank you.
I hope that yours did also.
Blessings!
I hope the electricity cuts dont mess you up too much I know how frustrating they can be
Like I said elsewhere JJ, we are all in a battle of survival, as the covid shutdowns on top of the electricity cut offs are sowing havoc here. Many small businesses had to shut down and people are losing everything that they own.
Charities are also in the line of fire and things don't look good here!
Yes its very sad and tough times for so many, I know many small businesses here have closed down, I can only imagine its worse there
Blessings
So beautiful!
Thank you!