hadeda – The Gardening Blog

Well its been hot, hot, hot here and I’ve really not had much inclination to dig in the dirt. All I can motivate myself to do as far as gardening goes is to lounge around, enjoy the garden and appreciate the birds who took over the back garden this afternoon. At one stage there were so many flitting around that I had to put the camera down just to appreciate the very sight of all these different birds who now find some reason to visit my little space in the world. It was really quite something to have all these visitors in such a short space of time.

Most of the birds today were regulars (Yay! I now have “regulars”!) but we also had new birds in the back garden. The Cape Bulbul was new to me and the Redwing Starlings are usually in the front garden, but today they joined us at the back. Every bit of “birdy equipment” was in use this afternoon and the birds showed me what else they’ve been drinking from …here the Redwing Starling is drinking from one of the pots on the Terrace.

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The Starlings are really not shy at all. They’ve been making my garden their home ever since we’ve lived here but usually confine themselves to the front garden where they have plenty of water features and bird baths which is what they seem to want from me. Water! They also enjoy the Frangipani tree in the front.

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According to my notes, these with the grey heads are females. They came really close to me and seemed very unfussed by my presence. Then is the “new” kid in town, the Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis). Cape Bulbul eat fruit, seeds, nectar and insects. They’ve been making short work of the goodies on the new bird feeder.

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This next bird is new to my garden (I haven’t seen it here before). I’ve looked through my “bird” books and can’t find a match for this one. I thought it looked a lot like the Rooibeksysie which is now a very regular visitor, but … I really don’t know what this is. Does anybody recognise it? It has also been eating off the new bird table, but seems a bit shy.

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Here is the Rooibeksysie (aka Common Red Waxbill) again – they enjoy the hanging bird feeder and are regular everyday visitors now. They seem to prefer the apple pieces to all the other things we’ve tried. Apple and seeds. They are very cute, have become quite forward and are not shy to let the other birds know when they are around.

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The sweet little sunbird that visits every day between at around five in the afternoon is growing up. (I first wrote about him here when he was a juvenile). I’ve watched him mature over the last three weeks and enjoy seeing him. Amazing that the same birds seem to come back every day or actually live somewhere in my garden …

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And then the last bird of the day, the Hadeda – Just as the sun was starting to go down I looked out of my bedroom window and saw this female Hadeda perched on the neighbours roof, looking into my garden. The light was not great so my photos are not good, but here she is – she gave us quite a show when I went outside to photograph her. Lots of preening and posturing.

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Here are a few other random shots of the birds using their old and new birdy things. I’m thrilled to see they are actually using everything I’ve put out for them and are eating all the fruit and seeds. Having all these birds visit is a wonderful side-effect of gardening.

[one_half]More than one bird type …[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Glad to see they do use these[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Can you see them peeping from behind?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Birds main Meeting Point[/one_half_last]

Thanks for joining me and “my” birds for our Sunday Bird Show 🙂
Happy Gardening
xxx

I was taking a walk around my garden to see what I could photograph for a blog post – and it walked right up to me – a Hadeda lunching on my earthworms! The amazing thing was that Hercules was walking with me and the Hadeda was completely unfazed by our very close presence and by being followed by us, me snapping away in the hope of getting at least one good photograph. The walkabout lasted for about ten minutes until we had followed her all the way from the back garden to the pond and then she decided she had had enough … either of us or of munching on earthworms, and she took flight.

I often see the Hadedas in my garden. I don’t actually like them much – they are usually in the garden in groups of two or three and they trample on the plants damaging them and mess all over the place (read: crap on the patio). And they are big birds so the mess they leave on the patio is large! Not little dove droppings, I’m talking about huge Hadeda droppings. So whilst they are not unwelcome (I love having birds in the garden), they are not exactly my favourite visitors – much like the loud noisy neighbours one tolerates once in a blue moon!

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For anyone interested and not familiar with the Hadeda here is some info I found on Wikipedia:
The Hadeda or Hadeda Ibis, Bostrychia hagedash, is a ibis found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Hadeda is a large (up to 76 cm long), dark brown ibis with a white “moustache”, glossy greenish purple wings, a large black bill with a red stripe on the upper mandible, and blackish legs. It feeds mainly on earthworms, using its long scimitar-like bill to probe soft soil. It also eats larger insects, such as the Parktown Prawn, as well as spiders and small lizards. These birds also favour snails and will feed in garden beds around residential homes. It has a distinctively loud and recognisable haa-haa-haa-de-dah call that is often heard when the birds are flying or are startled, hence the name. More info about Hadeda here: Hadeda Ibis.