Opening with a funny scene...

...a live joke mind you, as a bit of confusion was at play.

Hello, she said, who are you? is this your car as it is not parked very well.

Alcohol can have a different effect on people, and I think that it's the same in nature's wildlife. Especially the little ones, and I will show you the effect that it had on this little bird. All in a joke of course, as I don't want to antagonize some nature lovers.

You will see that I also have some other interesting views in here, and I am sure that you will want more information on them. So, I have a full description of the flowers, as well as the ingenious timing of a bird to know when to start mating and nesting.

You can't hide in the mirror, she said, as I see you, and I will tell my husband, as he is a traffic officer.

Denise, the husband shouted, I told you not to take so many sips from that glass of left over wine. :)

Right, now let's get serious.

I have been keeping an eye on the Protea flowers, as my hope was to get one of the little sunbirds to come and sit on them. The birds check the progress of the proteas in order to see when they start to produce nectar. So, imagine my happiness when I suddenly saw a big sunbird coming in to test the flowers.

Not any sunbird, but a male Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa) landed, and although it took a bit of time for him to arrive, I was ready to get him on camera. You will also see him testing a protea flower, and once he was satisfied, then he departed.

The different protea pincushion flower buds.

The protea flowers are native to South Africa, and especially to the Western Cape Province. There are several protea flower species, and in here I will concentrate on the Leucospermum Pincushion of the Protea family. The first flower below is the red pincushion flowers.

The second flower buds below are those of the yellow pincushion flowers.

You can see the bud of a King protea flower (Protea cynaroides).

Here is a final look of the King protea in progress.

So, there you have it, three different subjects to see in this post, and you can tell that I like variety. I also like to make the posts as detailed as possible in order for anyone that is interested to do their own research on it. We don't have very much to laugh about these days, but a smile costs nothing and a friendly smile can save someone's life.

I can also tell you that the birds love these flowers and I have taken many species sitting on the proteas and the pincushions to post over time. I am hoping for a bumper season during this winter spell, as I would love to show you some of the other beautiful bird species that visit the flowers. Even if I can't, then I will just carry on trying.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

Until next time, cheers!