Part 2 of the Malachite Sunbird picture story.

I did say that I will do the rest today, and this one is even better.

Winter season now and the protea flowers and pincushions are starting to bloom. Soon we will have many sunbirds coming in to feast on the flowers.

At first I saw him in the parking lot as we stopped to park our car.
In fact, as I got out of the car I saw him, and I think that he was having breakfast. Little did I know that he would give me a lovely show at two different places, and it made my day.

The malachite sunbird (Nectarinia famosa) is a small nectarivorous bird found from the highlands of Ethiopia southwards to South Africa.
This large sunbird is found in hilly fynbos (including protea stands as well as areas with aloes) and cool montane and coastal scrub, up to 2,800m altitude in South Africa. It also occurs in parks and gardens (often nesting within those located in the Highveld). It is resident, but may move downhill in winter.
This species, like most sunbirds, feeds mainly on nectar, although it will also take insects, especially when feeding young. This sunbird may hunt in a similar manner to a flycatcher, hawking for insect prey from a perch.

Source

His tongue is similar to a straw in order to suck nectar up.

And so, after feeding here, he was considering where to go next. I think that too many cars came into the parking lot, and he doesn't like movement.

Now I will show you how his beautiful incandescent colors blend in with nature.

See? I am not joking as his glowing green fits in with the leaves of the bush. Same colors. If it's difficult for you to see him then don't worry, as it is just as difficult for predators to see him. Except for this predator with a camera to takes shots of him :))

One of the most beautiful birds in our country.

Finally, the time arrived for us to return.

The Malachite is the biggest of our sunbirds and some call him the king of the sunbirds. Then another favorite of mine is one of our smallest sunbirds, and they call it the Southern Double-collared sunbird. This little guy is called the king of all of the singing sunbirds and let me tell you that he has a lovely tinkling song. I was fortunate to also get some lovely pictures of him recently, that I will show you in another post.
I think that this is enough talk and I leave you to be bedazzled with the photos.

Hope that you enjoyed the picture story.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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