Festive Time

For most of the time during this festive season I'm reading, writing or sorting my massive collection of photos. Nonetheless my ears are always "open" to sounds, especially bird calls - so when I hear something I can't "identify" right away I go (camera always in hand) to "investigate". When I detected that the "culprit" was a Speckled mousebird, I was quite surprised because these birds aren't usually very "vocal". As a result I snapped the following "series":





This was the "noisy" one ...














Which was joined by another one ...








... along came No 3 ...









... and yes, No 4 ...













... and last but not least, No 5.





Other than having fun being "visited" by these mousebirds, I was also "called" outside by another recent "arrival":


a young Diederik cuckoo - raised (just as I "reported" last year at more or less the same time) by a surrogate weaver mommy.




The "brood parasite" (= all cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds) was still around, though; its plaintiff & far-carrying call is constantly audible (at varying intervals) during the days.




Another colourful visitor was this Cape glossy starling ...







... and then I "discovered" another Masked weaver building a new nest - another, because I have already "recorded", ad nauseam, how another Masked weaver "progressed" with the art of building its nest [SEE: previous blog-entries].