I woke up early after the rain and saw a blackbird in the distance. I grabbed my camera and ran to the patch of flowers. It sat still for a while but then the dogfights ensued.
If you are an avid bird watcher, you will know that birds are not always the nicest to their friends. This morning, I was surrounded by various dogfights. The fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) was not happy with the many other birds trying to eat some of the sweet nectar.
The drongo flew to one of the nearby trees and watched with a keen eye what was happening. It did not like the sunbirds feasting on the sugar. Maybe it though that the sunbirds chased the bugs away or something. But it continually flew down to the flowers to chase away the small sunbirds.
The white-bellied sunbird (Cinnyris talatala) was one of the unlucky victims. It merely tried to eat some of the pollen but the drongo had not of it.
Sadly, I could not take pictures of this as it happened too fast and I was still half asleep, it was still early morning for me. Plus, with the morning light after some rain, my camera could not capture it in focus.
But luckily I could capture the small sunbird feasting on the nectar of the flowers before the drongo really lost its cool.
But that was not the only dogfight happening. Between the sunbirds, there was also a massive fight. I think another species entered the game, but a female one. This does not look like the female white-bellied sunbird but rather the amethyst sunbird (Chalcomitra amethystina). I might be wrong, but it looks like it.
Between these two sunbirds, there also erupted a dogfight. I am not sure why, because there were lots and lots of flowers. Maybe the small male wanted to show dominance. But he could also just have been mean.
Looking above me, I saw another small black bird minding its own business. It tried to eat the moss from the tree or I guess the bugs living under the moss. Again, I might be wrong.
The black tit (Melaniparus niger) feasted on what I presume were worms or bugs. It did not bother itself with the dogfights happening below it. I walked away from the dog fights to try and get a better view of this small but beautiful black bird.
It was also very interested in these seed pods. See below for more photographs of this. Maybe there were some insects feasting on the pods as well? Or maybe it tried to eat the seed pods? But from what I could gather, they mostly eat insects... So I am not sure.
It looked straight at me and I could imagine it saying These children always fight with each other, commenting on the other birds' fighting. It had a stern look though, so it was not a sarcastic statement but a frustrated one.
It continued eating from the seed pods, again with that frustrated look on its face. The pour old black tit was not having any of this fighting. It continued eating its seed pod.
In any case, I hope you enjoyed the post. These three or four amazing birds are found here in South African close to the Kruger National Park. They are so beautiful yet so naughty. Chasing each other way from the flowers that grew in their multitude.
For now, happy birding and keep well!
All of the photographs are my own taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens. The musings and writings are also my own, inspired by the dogfights of these feisty birds.