Have You Seen the Cape White-Eye Bathe?

In a show of acrobatic feat, he slips and slides over the leaf to wet himself with the water that I just sprayed onto the plants. There are more, about 20. It is a loud raucous, but I love it. They fly through the water I am spraying and they remind me of my youth when we used to run underneath the sprayer head when my dad watered the lawn.

Have you ever seen a bird bathe like this? I was lucky to catch the sequence, but my camera’s shutter was not even fast enough to catch every detail. They jump from one leaf to another, glide with their bellies where the water pooled on the leaf and fly to the next branch to do it all over again. Nature is amazing!

It was not long when I heard the chattering of the Southern double-collared sunbird. It was a female that also wanted to join the festivities! They all bathed together, and the sound was overwhelming. They chitted and chatted and I could not make any sense of it! But I knew that they revelled and embraced it. Even from my human-centric perspective, I could see and hear the glee and joy in their chatting and fluttering.

But the funny thing is, I could never really see them. I heard them, there were so many, but I could not find the visual confirmation I needed. It was only these glimpses I found. The big tree that covers half of the garden, I am sure, is the home to most of these birds. When I work in the compost, they always sing and chat, but I never see them. But as soon as I put on some water, you hear their descent and their jolly chit-chatting.

In a span of two or three weeks, I had the most amazing moments in my garden. Moments in which I felt that all the work I do is actually important. Before I started my garden journey, the “garden” was mostly grass. Now, I turned the grass and lawn into a fynbos enclave betwixt the concrete jungle. The birds are enjoying it, there are so many insects for them to feast on, and I have so much food for myself due to many plants being edible as well.

Before I turned the camera off, the Cape white-eye gave me a last show in which it manoeuvred tactfully around a flower. Who would have guessed that the birds would use a flower as their bathing sponge?

I hope that you enjoyed this post and that you experienced with me the awesome showcase of nature at her best! It was such an nice thing to witness, and funny thing, I only saw it at the end when I edited the photographs. Whilst watching them as they danced in the spray of water, they moved too fast for me to even see this slip-and-slide action.

We see something new every day. Maybe you have noticed this strange but amazing behaviour?

All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens. The musings are also my own. Stay well, and happy birding!