Sipping Nectar
Long thin curved beak of the Sunbirds' enter deep into the nectar to sip showing us how to do it on the Bottle Brush Bush or an Argave flower.
Some have long or longer thin beaks depending on the flowers, long tongue to sip deep into honeysuckle, aloe flowers, wild dagga or similar flowers, sugar-rich food source for speciality bird.
Special feeding adaptations.
Nectar is a sugar-rich food source that is utilised by means of a very long tongue and a specialised bill. The tongue is tubular with some projections at the tongue tip that are used to suck up the nectar, using capillary action. The tongue can be extended, out of the beak, to almost the same length of the beak.
The bill is slender and curved, with a sharp point. The bill has a serrated tip to enable the sunbird to break into the corolla of the flower. Most feeding is done by poking the beak down into the flower.
Other special adaptations
It is thought that some of the sunbirds are able to slow down their metabolism at night and in very cold weather to save energy. The wings are short and rounded, allowing the sunbirds capable of sustained hovering. South African Sunbirds
Some of the variety in this species of which we have 21 in South Africa, Amethyst, Collared, Malachite, Scarlet-chested, White-bellied Sunbird taken during a special morning looking into the Bottle Brush Tree in the mountains.
Other birds joined in to watch what the fuss was all about.
In my garden the Argave and Tubular flowers attracted the birds, pollinators to certain plants where they rely solely on longer or shorter bill to draw the nectar up.
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Thought for Today: "Not all flowers produce fruits. And not all seeds become trees. Even of the same tree kind, not all of them produce flowers and let alone fruits." - African Proverb
How To
We have bottle brush everywhere around here, endemic to Australia. I saw one in Europe once though, can't recall where, and it felt like a little slice of home.
Weeping bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis) is Australian, now listed as invasive over here in South Africa.
Greyia sutherlandia, commonly known as the glossy or Natal bottle brush is the one shown here and one I have in my garden. More gnarled tree, to the sweeping beauty you have growing over there.
Beauty of all plants stunning, even weeds that flower make a grand display !LOLZ
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This happens I guess, we have many plant species that don't belong here.
Delayed reply due to power outages, !LOLZ
Plenty grows here from your side of the world and South America, content here one sees plants that look extremely familiar.
I heard (and have seen) that you have eucalypts there which is weird...I associate the with here although I know they are prevalent in other countries. When you tell me you have koalas and kangaroos things will be really weird. Lol.
Eucalypts arrived here from your side of the pond, are extremely invasive with 16% of water resources lost due to plantations of them. Some hybrids are planted for specific purpose, and controlled, normally pulp for paper manufacture. Bee farms rely on the Eucalypts as well.
No koalas nor kangaroos we have enough here to give you a knee jerk, much like the rough outback over there.
I wonder if that specie of flowers is over here, I always like it when they bloom with the pink color all over the place.
Pink one is more than likely the Australian species, they are a beautiful tree no matter where they originate and the birds love them.
Power back up for a couple of hours again, it's hit and miss in South Africa!
Sorry! 😂
I can hear the joy, escaping giggle..., as you said that, yup somethings you just never miss.
Hahaha it was an escape indeed, as much as I miss SA it is definitely not for the loadshedding
🤣 figured as much!
Lol that I can't deny lol, I used to get miserable with the loadshedding. You know busy on Hive I am lol.
These birdsong are perfect and combine well in floral flowers
Beauty of these birds between beautiful flowers always a pleasure to watch.
!LUV thanks for visiting.
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Thank you very much beauty i like
This is what I miss here to see, birds sipping nectar from the flowers.
How wonderful is that you have plants in your garden to attract the birds pollinators.
Bird and blooms are beautiful when watching them actively sipping away. Of late I am noticing more of this specie in my garden, certain flowers must be attracting them again.
Boom!!! In one blossoming plant, numerous birds come! You must be fully entertained by them! How beautiful, @joanstewart ! I could spend my whole afternoon just looking at the birds!
Thanks for sharing the beauty of Africa!!!
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Love watching their antics, full entertainment with coming and going early mornings.
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Thanks @hivebuzz the months rolling once again, have a wonderful new month.
You're welcome @joanstewart! Have a nice day 😊🌹
Pretty flowers and birds with their curved beaks, Joan. Flowers are starting to bloom here now and they are a pleasure to see.
Dandelions have left a lovely carpet of yellow across lawns and open fields. Many people consider them a nuisance but we have been advised to leave them alone as they are early food for bees and other critters.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Leaving chickweed and dandelions for bees and butterflies here for the last five years so there are flowers available when not much else around.
Sunbirds very selective in their blooms, they are always exciting to watch maneuver into plants.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend as well, enjoy the fields in colorful blooms.
I am always fascinated by the bottle brush, probably because we don't have any, and their unusual look to the flowers. They actually look like bottle brushes. :) The flowers seem to last forever and I thought it was an eye-catching specimen that seemed to attract butterflies and bees.
It reminds me of my Bradford Pear tree. It has the most beautiful flowers on it, but, it is outlawed in many States here. It is considered invasive. Ha! Always the beautiful ones.
Flowers are very much weather dependent, up in the mountains they last a lot longer in bloom than down here at the coast.
Growing up inland I do miss the seasonal peach, apricot and other blooms we grew up with in Spring.
Cherry and Pear tree blossoms are beautiful in photography I have seen.
They don't grow on the coast? I guess that surprises me. I love apricots but, I just noticed that they are very select in where they are grown here. You learn something new every day.
Fruits vary to location, coastal we have Avocado, Banana, Pawpaw along with many others. Peach type trees normally inland also plentiful bounty they don't have what we have and visa versa !LOLZ
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these birds are just spectacular!!! really. just wow <3 It's incredible how much sugar they actually need to take in to fuel those extremely fast little metabolisms.
With Aloe flowers now starting to bloom we will see little gems in sunbirds appearing to enjoy.
!LUV to Cape Town family.
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