Our special wishes with all Hiveans are that this will be your year of great successes and sparkling health.
A mousebird invasion. Some say that these birds are difficult to get on camera. I agree, but I have to say that patience always pays. The one in the photo above had his left eye closed to the wind, but his right eye was watching out for predators.
The white-backed mousebird (Colius colius) is a large species of mousebird. It is distributed in western and central regions of southern Africa from Namibia and southern Botswana eastwards to Central Transvaal and the eastern Cape.
This mousebird prefers scrubby dry habitats, such as thornveld, fynbos scrub and semi-desert.
In handling mousebirds the tail should be avoided, as the long rectrices come out so easily as to suggest that it is a sacrificial defence mechanism.
Two issues that I have highlighted in the passage above is that
1.The White-backed Mousebirds also appear here in the Western Cape.
2.I never knew that a mousebird's tail will fall off in a defensive maneuver, as it is the same as our lizards when they are caught.
Oops! Look how brave these two were, as they came to sit on our granadilla fence.
I think the bottom one is the female, and she gave me a look but decided to ignore me as I was a distance away. Somebody needs to teach the mousebirds to watch out for camera zooms. Lol.
So, she ignored me, and they carried on doing what they do.
Did I tell you, that these birds are shy and very difficult to get on camera?
Its feeding habits make it very unpopular with fruit farmers and domestic gardeners, which might be why it is very shy as a rule. When it spots a human it either sits quietly in a tree or takes off immediately. The white-backed mousebird has a whistled zwee-wewit call. It also has a buzzing or crackling call that might be for alarm or keeping in contact with the group.
Source
The guy at the top inspected the leafy salad.
The lady gave another peep my way, but all was still well.
So, what do they eat? Check how the guy at the top stretches that leaf before chewing it off.
The good thing here is that our granadillas will soon start to ripen, and although the birds don't eat the granadillas, we do and the squirrels to also. The Strawberry Guava tree fruit will also start to ripen, and so my wife will make us one of those fruit punches with extra vitamins. She will mix the organic granadillas with the fruit of the strawberry guava tree. Potent stuff indeed, and very, very tasty.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Thank you kindly for supporting this post.
Your patience really paid off because the photos are amazing, and the story behind them made it even better.
Thank you, and I am trying to teach the word patience to everyone, as this world is in a great rush to nowhere. !LOL
Yeah, I can tell that they are camera shy. But they look really beautiful regardless. Happy New Year!🌺
Not so difficult to get them if one has patience. !LOL
Hope that you will also have a good year.
The birds are adorable and you managed to get some great shots of them. Love the one stretching the leaf. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Thank you, and I always say that I was in the right place at the right time to get the shots them.
May you also have a good new year.
!PIZZA and !LUV
@sunscape, @papilloncharity(1/10) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
they are very adorable, the feathers on their heads are very cute.
Thanks, and we also like their hair styles. !LOL
They have really cool hair style 😁
Would never imagine that birds can lose their tail as lizards as defense. Apart from enjoying these cool photos I learned something new, thank you.
Happy New Year Zac, joy, health and blessings to you and yours! 🥂
Wow! I just mentioned that we like their hair styles to another reply. !LOL
Yep, I was also amazed about them shedding their tail feathers to escape an attack.
May this new year be kind to you and may all your dreams come true.
!PIZZA and !LUV
@mipiano, @papilloncharity(2/10) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
Hahaha, certainly, their hairdresser did a great job 😂
A new fashion. !LOL
Happy New Year! Love the photos!
Thanks, and the same to you.
Glad that you loved the photos. !LOL
Waoo!! 🤩👏 que aves mas bonitas nunca las había visto, que cómicas son, me encantan @papilloncharity Colius.
Bella’s imágenes las que nos muestras amiga. Saludos y feliz año nuevo por mucha mas naturaleza 👏😊🎄🎆!!
I am glad that loved the photos Javier. !LOL
May the new year bring you happiness and peace.
Así mismo @papilloncharity muchas cosas buenas y éxitos 👏😊🙏🏻!!!
!LOL
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@papilloncharity(3/15) tipped @mipiano
papilloncharity tipped sunscape
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