Flying up to the watch tower.

Many folks think that Guinea Fowls cannot fly.

Here is the evidence that they can indeed fly high.

I also have some other bird species in here to show you what they can get up to. But to get back to the guinea fowls, normally while the flock and its babies are scratching around for food in an area below, the leader pops up to a spot where he can watch for predators. Guinea fowls don't have many predators, but house cats after the babies and dogs that are left to run around freely are a real danger for them.

Then we also have the larger birds of prey, such as eagles and falcons to keep a look out for on a farm at night. We even heard a big commotion and the next morning when we went to have a look at what went wrong, evidence of African Wild Cats was shown by the carcasses of some guinea fowl. Everything in nature has some or other form of predators and combined they all critical roles in the ecosystem.

The watchtower was a high palm tree.

As I said, the palms grow very high up.

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And now come and look at something else.

Autumn is a good time for some bird species to mate, as then the nesting takes place, and the babies are born during the last weeks of winter. This will allow them to grow up in spring and summer, so that they can also breed in the next winter period.

So, this guy, a Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis), was doing his love song sequence.

Just look at that flaring tail. A real show for any female that passes by.

Not to be outdone, our Robbie, the Cape Robin-chat was also doing his own lovely mating dance.

Finally, the little Southern Double-collared Sunbird sat bathing in the sun after he visited the granadilla fence below in our garden.

We now have a real issue here, as a big male squirrel from some other family has become a real terror chasing the babies around in our garden. He guards the feeding trough that contains the acorns, maize, and avocados. I have devised a way of scaring him off, by slapping our bird book loudly down on the wooden windowsill. It makes quite a big bang sound, that sends the male squirrel fleeing through a gap in our palisade fencing.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the photos.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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