GREY LOURIE
I know there are many people who enjoy "Bird Watching", getting excited when they spot a new and exquisite bird they have never seen before, looking it up to find out its name and habitat can become quite an Adrenalin rush for some.
The Grey Lourie is a bird from the Southern Afrotopics (consists of 8 biogeographic realms and regions of Africa forms part of it) as they enjoy the moist air of the woodlands and the arid air of the thorny savanna. They love nesting in the Acacia trees of Africa.
They reach the length of up to 51cm from bill to tail tip and can weigh as much as 300g. Their entire body is a smoky grey. The Grey Lourie lives on a diet of mainly fruit, flowers, termites and snails. They lay 3 eggs and the pair both share parental duties.
My children love to see if they can recognize all the birds at the different areas when on holiday. Something they learned while attending a small private primary farm school. Every week they would learn about a new tree/plant, a bird and a wild animal in the geographical area of the school, they had quizzes on it every opening meeting on a Monday with the chance of winning a chocolate.
The first morning sitting on the veranda at Mabalingwe Game Reserve, we had the privilege to have a Grey Lourie pair as guests for breakfast. We had wild bird seed with us which we put out on a spot to attract the birdlife but to our astonishment the one Grey Lourie decided to come pick up the rusk that was laying in my plate. It struggled so we decided to break it up for the pair. I took some photos with my phone of the entire ordeal but it got stolen before I could download them, sadly to say. At least I have these to share with you from my Nikon L840.
At first they were cautious, watching from a distance sitting on the dried out branches of an old tree far away. The more adventurous one decided to come closer as you can see from the above photo.
Eventually he came down and started to peck at the seeds we’ve put out for them.
After a while the other one joined in.
It was at this moment that the confident one came to take a peck at the rusk and then trying to carry the entire thing away with it. As I took the rusk he flew into the tree and the other one followed, I broke the rusks into little pieces of which the adventures one came down to eat and took it to the other one waiting in the tree.
It was lovely to sit and watch this pair every morning at sunrise. I hope next time you come to Africa that you will try to spot a Grey Lourie.
nice capture... upvoted...!!
thanks for sharing... have a nice day...^^
Thank you abdullar. Enjoy a lovely weekend.
Very cute bird. Good Job :)
Thank you, chissysworld. I wish you I could have shared the photos where he tried to carry away the huge chunk of rusk .
Got to love our diverse array of birdlife, thank you for sharing. We have so much to be grateful for
Thank you Breezin that is very true. We are surrounded by so much beauty.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing :-)
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