I have never see this bird before!! What a surprise when I saw him in my garden!! I quickly looked up in my Bird Book (Sasol Southern African Birds – a photographic guide: Ian Sinclair/Ian Davidson) This beautiful bird, the bokmakierie, kept us entertained while he played with his reflection in the car window! This bird is not common in gardens, so what a pleasure that he graced ours and that my hubby took a video of him! Enjoy!
The Bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus)
The bokmakierie has a grey head and olive-green upperparts with a broad yellow eyebrow over a dark, not yellow, eye and by its yellow upperparts with a broad black bib across the breast. It flies with fast wing beats and shows a bright yellow tip to its tail (seen as it fans its tail on landing). The sexes are alike. Immatures are duller than the adults, lacking the black breast band. They feed mostly on the ground in arid areas and low down in vegetation in other areas. They take insects, lizards, snakes and frogs. These birds occur in thornveld, Euphorbia scrub in Southern Africa and scrub bushes. They are not common in suburban gardens.