Feathered Friday - A Hummingbird Love Story and other Garden Birds
I've been so busy flying all over the place lately, just like our feathered species...no not in a plane, just been real busy!
Today, I've realised it's time to slow down so I will share a little love story of two hummingbirds and some of our garden birds with all our bird lovers as my contribution towards @keithboone's #FeatheredFriday Challenge.
Knysna Turaco (Tauraco corythaix) or Knysna Lourie as it's known here in South Africa. we were very fortunate in capturing it showing off its gorgeous crimson primary flight feathers. We hear this bird more often than see it as it's very shy, normally hops around in the treetops. It feeds on fruit, insects and earthworms and has a loud kow-kow-kow-kow call.
Then one morning, two little hummingbirds flew into the lounge, flitting from one corner of the room to the other. My husband opened the sliding door fully and the one little bird found its way outdoors, but its mate was still inside, quite petrified by now!
The one on the outside hovered on the balcony, fluttering its wings in agitation, would not fly away as its mate was still inside!
Somehow the one on the inside had gotten stuck in between the glass sliding doors and could not escape. It was quite a job to carefully and slowly slide the door so that it could get out without getting hurt.
What a relief when it managed to get out and found its way outdoors and the two little hummingbirds happily flew off!
It was so special seeing the concern of the mate and its determination not to desert its partner!
I was curious about this behaviour and wondered if they mate for life, but sadly not! Apparently once they've mated the male will simply move on and leave the mommy to bring up the little fledglings as a single mom.
This pair must still have been at the courting stage!
We used to have gorgeous bird feeders in the garden, this was a favourite but the mischievous monkeys eventually destroyed it in their search for food!
Little Turtle Dove surveying the scene before tucking into breakfast.
This little fellow seemed to be injured, just sat on one of the garden benches and was not startled by me at all, until I got too close and it flew away. Have never seen one of them in our garden.
Ringneck Dove
Many weavers visit our garden as we're near a stream with tall bamboos where they make their nests.
This little Red Billed Firefinch pays us a visit from time to time, enjoying the wild bird seed and the bird bath, but it's always alone.
It was darting back and forth all the time, so it was difficult getting a nice clear shot of it, especially with my cell phone :)
Another gorgeous little bird that we often see, is the Kingfisher, but I could not get a nice clear photo, so will share a beautiful wall mural with you, taken at our local Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed this.
A huge thank you to @keithboone for introducing #featheredfriday, a great way to share our love of the feathered species.
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Original Content by @lizelle
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What cool shots and I always though hummingbirds mated for life shows how little i know LOL
So did I especially after seeing this behaviour but who knows, maybe this little pair are the odd couple out LOL!
thats a nice way to look out it after all there has to be an exception to every rule :)
I love the birds! Moving to a new area has been so fun, so many interesting birds to learn about. We had a hummingbird trapped in our garage one time, it was so difficult to release it and by the time we caught it, it was weak. I fed it with sugar water for a few minutes, and then woosh...it flew away. So sweet. I love your sweet hummingbird story! I hope you get the opportunity to enjoy a quiet peaceful Sunday @lizelle! Cheers my friend!
I just love the birds too, so glad your little hummingbird managed to get out!
Thank you for your lovely comments my friend :)
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What an excellent Feathered Friday post! There is so much to enjoy here... That's a terrific story about the Hummingbirds. Glad you were able to rescue the one who got stuck in the door! Great photos, thanks for sharing! Voted and resteemed :-)
We were so fascinated with these two little hummingbirds, thank goodness it got out without hurting itself! Thank you for your lovely feedback @keithboone and for this tag!
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Howdy lizelle! this is a great set of shots and perfect for the tag.Ya'll must be loaded with birds down there!
Thank you @janton, you're right, we really are blessed with many species here!
Aww what sweet little hummingbirds! ♥
So interesting to see the different species of birds in other countries! THanks for sharing this!