Baby Birds Learn To Sing In Spring

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Spring Season September To November In Southern Hemisphere

Technically Spring starts on the 23rd September, although here in South Africa we celebrate Spring Day on the 1st September with children going to school in civvies, also often ends up being a pretty cold day over the last couple of years.

After recent snowfall inland over last couple of days. Today it hot without a breath of wind. Blustering winds blew through, suddenly chilly weather disappears as quickly as it appeared, who knows perhaps this is the start now, or maybe not!

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Look what's going on under the wax flower, out in the midday sun Common Mother-of-Pearl (Protogoniomorpha parhassus) now heading toward the season of procreating into next seasons butterflies.

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Butterfly is approximately 8 cm with wingspan, females can grow as large as 9 cm, no wonder they say the butterfly sometimes thinks it is a bird.

Red satiny flowers bobbing under blue skies luring birds and insects to enjoy a sip of life.

Currently in bloom is the Bottlebrush shrub/tree I think the (Callistemon citrinus 'Splendens') produce copious nectar and pollen, let's take time to see who visits the young plant with only a couple of flowers at the moment.

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Spectacled weaver (Ploceus ocularis) although not very social with birds of their own species, they stick together as families or pairs. Being omnivores enjoy insects, seeds, fruit and nectar, a regular bird found in the woodlands and forest edges here in our gardens and grow to around 15cm long.

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Amethyst Sunbird (Chalcomitra amethystina) this could be the female or juvenile feeling at the plant. Slightly larger sunbird measuring about 14cm, aggressively dominant over prized plant when they have their time visiting.

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Bronze Mannikin (Lonchura cucullata) part of the waxbill family. Common bird to the Eastern parts of South Africa they tend to flock together, perhaps it is the small size of these 9 - 10cm birds stick together in numbers.

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Mainly eat grass seeds so who would have guessed a sip off the bottlebrush would do the trick!

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Swooping out after mad minute frenzy eating, six or seven birds took off once again in a hurry, the pollen at that time of the day must have attracted these birds in all within a half an hour.

Fruitful photography time, now back indoors out of the heat of the day.

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All photography is my own using Canon Powershot. Any queries or requests please drop a comment below or make contact with me, have a wonderful day! Photography without tripod, go with the flow wherever life takes you.

Thought for Today: "Haste and hurry can only bear children with many regrets along the way." - African Proverb

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83 comments
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How are you dear friend @joanstewart good morning
I think the most beautiful days are spring, nature becomes multicolored and the insects and birds know it, they enjoy this season laughing calling for their partners.
Beautiful photographs, great shots, I appreciate you sharing with us.
Have a wonderful day

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Birds starting to appear with warmer weather, although we do have birds all year round.

Perhaps it is due to the breeding season they appear more often feeding with young tucked away somewhere close.

!BEER end of the day here once again!

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We are still seeing the snow on the mountains here. Also feeling the cold for days on end, even with the sun shining. But the flowers are bursting with spring colors and the birds are active, even with the rain this morning.

Stunning photographs of the butterflies, even though their caterpillars are eating my seedlings, and of the birds in the Bottlebrush. The sunbird and sugar birds are always a feast for the eyes!

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Nip in the air now, appears we will have rain hopefully over the weekend, no rain of late, garden is extremely dry.

Last month these large white butterflies filled the garden, slowly starting to see others arrive again. Birds really enjoyed the nectar, fresh blooms opening when they arrived and dived straight in.

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Here in the Cape, there are still weekly rains. It is so cold. Hearing news from Pretoria that it is again extremely hot after a brief cold spell.

Those butterflies are so beautiful. The smaller white ones with the black dot on their backs always spells doom for me, they eat the plants from the brassica family, rocket, mustard and those plants.

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Some tend to devour certain plants in caterpillar phase not that bad the one cannot turn a blind eye !LOLZ

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That is the problem! I have had whole crops devoured by certain caterpillars in less than two days, other ones tend to live more harmoniously with the plants.

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We have some that go for the cycas and bulb plants, over the years I have learned to turn a blind eye and noticed they do damage but not that intense to warrant chemicals coming out.

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I am sorry for only responding now. What a crazy week of traveling, things are slowing down a bit in that department.

For sure, chemical treatment is rarely the option. But sometimes it is needed even if only to help establish the plants. I had to throw some poison out for a snail attack on my small fynbos plants. They devoured everything. But after the plants established themselves, the slugs and snails had a feast without destroying the whole plant.

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Slugs and snails I used beer traps, not sure if it's the smell or they drowned in the effort of getting to the plants!

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I need to try this! Luckily, things have been growing so well recently that the need for any solution to keep the bugs away is not needed any longer. The salad rocket leaves are almost 20 cm long and I am eating so much of it on a daily basis now. Wish I could somehow share or sell it!

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Trade with people in the region if possible when you have excess. Finding ways to combat bugs I have not had much success.

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I need to actually ask my girlfriend’s parents as they are on the whatsapp groups and all of that. Some people in the area might want some! I have been harvesting every day for myself now and there is still so much left.

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We still have a local group selling all kinds of products, this morning I noticed eggs up for sale from a farm, people are connected so a good idea to try.

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That is the preferred way to go. Going to the shop and supporting their arbitrary price hikes is just getting out of hand these days. Some products doubled in price in less than 2 years. I am not buying the idea that producing that product doubled in two years. Rather, we are feeding share and stock holders' pockets and not the farmers.

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Now consider how we feel, buying pork at R2,99/kg, chicken under Rand per kilo around 1990, cheapest in town direct from a proper butcher, now pork avg R100/kg, chicken approx R70/kg, no butchery available these are store prices, it's a total rip off.

I used to buy for family of 5, half pig, lamb and hind quarter of beef monthly with one or two chickens, selected the meat hanging in cold room, collected in the afternoon packed the way I requested, deep freeze at home for a month now no electricity? WTF

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That is really a shock to the system. I know that, buying any meat product really hurts the bank account. Eating more vegetables that I grow myself, saving on those costs, but the savings go straight to buying proteins. It is so frustrating because it really shouldn’t be like that. The middle man (shops) are taking ever bigger cuts making record profits for share holders while the farmer and buyer struggles to make ends meet. If this is not the moment that we return to buying from the farmer or the local butcher who works with the farmer, we will never return.

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I simply try find ways to have the proteins buying cheaper cuts preparing them properly before cooking. Veggies local from small store that goes to market twice a week is way cheaper than supermarkets. Farmers are squeezed while supermarkets bloat their profit lines, they have lost the plot growing our own no matter how little does help.

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Such a shame that this is our standard. I have seen so much change in the little time I have been active in growing and buying food. I just wonder where will it end? With prices so high no one can buy? Or will we return to buying directly from the farmer? Or will we begin to grow and farm in our back yards again? I saw that a municipality in Belgium gave each citizen a couple of chickens, and the demand for eggs in the shop went down so much that they could not sell eggs any longer. Maybe we should return to this style?

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We grew up with everything from the garden including the chicken coop, something to be done all years round. Now people have forgotten the art, and are searching for a way back again.

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That would be great if we return to this. I know even from my small garden there is stuff to do year round. Compost never sleeps and there is always planting and harvesting going on.

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What people do without a garden I am not sure.

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Same. I yearn to own my own property one day but with prices increasing on almost a daily basis I am not sure about that any more!

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Pro's and con's to owning ones own property of late. Something to ponder before you buy.

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For sure. And all of the hidden costs one does not know about beforehand. But so many memories you can make when you buy the right one.

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We enjoyed the best of both for onto thirty years, now the last ten have been a headache with traffic noise being constant along with development. Cannot complain, next time would be a rental who knows when!

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One cannot always have it like you want it, right? Need to be happy with what you get. And always strive towards becoming better. Rentals seems like a good option in some cases, no property upkeep and so on. But with recent rentals being so high, might as well pay a loan off over 20 years for roughly the same monthly costs.

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Hidden costs always sneak in along the way, owning is better in the long run, it is getting there....

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For sure. You just need to find property in an area that will have good prospects in 20/30 years, which is not easy with the quick changing economy.

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Development is quickly killing off many areas, not easy to predict at all.

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True. And so sad. I never really want to know the figures, but it is sad to hear about vast amounts of fynbos area being used for development. So sad.

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Those are beautiful butterflies and also the birds.
I think we also have this Bronze Mannikin here in my place, but sometimes it is considered a pest for the farmers as they eat the young rice.
!PIZZA !VCS !PIMP

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Small birds tend to roam flocking in great numbers, clearing a lot of fields out in no time at all !LOLZ

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(Edited)

Strikingly beautiful colours! Wow!

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Fresh colours arriving in flowers, birds and butterflies, have a wonderful weekend.

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I consider you lucky having spring season there. It is sun full in mood here in Pakistan.

By the way, I always admire your photos and today they are also really beautiful.

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Some days hot others not, that is Spring over here with weather still making it's mind up.

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful Friday.

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You are welcome.
And happy Friday to you too.

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Spring is a beautiful season! Temperatures are mild, and everywhere, you can feel that all is coming alive. Just like that butterfly, and the flowers, and birds!!!
xoxo
!LADY

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And don't Forget the BEES too Ms. Saver @silversaver888
!LUV

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Most definitely arrived @stokjockey, for @silversaver888 her busy bee.... Zoom in!

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Weather changes here on a 'tickey', max today 29C tomorrow 19C, currently looking for rain. Garden life very busy at the moment. Thanks for token and have a beautiful Friday.

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These are beautiful and so colorful, butterflies are amazing creatures. The weather over here was warm today and I saw some birds, thanks for sharing

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Life in the garden a pleasure to share, not looking forward to warm weather. Thanks for visiting and kind comment.

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Hopefully, it is not a sign of a hotter Spring into Summer for you guys, I miss the Spring day celebration which in my clubbing days in Joburg used to be fun with my buddies with our girlfriends. Memories in SA will always remain with me, over a decade there is no joke.

I like the plant the birds are feeding on, beautiful and has a way of messing with the garden as well.

!PIZZA

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Plants all dropping leaves at the moment to get their new jacket on, fun watching the turn of season again.

Most exciting day was 1st September when all the public swimming pools opened and we could enjoy once again splashing around when young. No dressing up to school it was another day in uniform, these are all new ideas of late.

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The change of season to Spring to and Autumn is always beautifully amazing.
Nature is simply amazing.

Spring bash, all white party and other celebrations I had over there.

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Only times of the year we took holidays, not so much any more....

Happy Friday !LOLZ

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Happy Friday
The suspense is killing as I told Grant 2 days ago, hopefully, next week I hear a positive outcome. 😉

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An amazing array of wildlife and flowers bursting into life, just as we head into autumn, the trees look good with golden leaves but grey skies. oh dear god no.

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Yup changing of the guard once again....
Have an awesome Saturday!

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I did and you have an awesome sunday

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Halfway through ours down here, overcast and lovely cool weather!

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sounds like our summer lol

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Wow! That butterfly looks so beautiful and I like it's white color.

Those birds are enjoying those flowers in this season.

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It is so nice that you got such great photos of the birds on the flowers. I bet you are so happy for spring to arrive.

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I prefer winter, cooler conditions here, spring is pretty with changes in behaviour with wildlife.

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