May 20, 2012

New visitors to the Guava tree! 

This is a pair of Pin Tailed Wydahs. The female above, and the male below.

The male is catching 40 winks while his lady seems very suspicious about the camera!

In breeding season the male changes to black and white with long black tail feathers and a bright red beak.  On February 22 I posted a few photos of the wooing and mating process.

For the new followers of my blog: There used to be a dead Guava tree just beyond the corner post that was a

favourite 'beak cleaning' stop for a variety of birds - that is until one of the groundsmen decided to cut it down!

I was devastated and summoned a helper to go and find the tree where it had been dumped. We removed a fairly large section and carried it home.  This was then wired to the corner post and very soon the visitors arrived!  On March 21 I posted a photo of 41 swallows resting in its branches! A few weeks ago I created a fruit spike from a piece of wood and hung it on the lower branch. This has proved to be quite a hit, especially with Bulbuls, Mynahs and Barbets - apples seem to be their favourite.

Wydahs feeding on an apple came as a surprise because I always thought they were seed-eaters.