🐾 Maybe the reason I love animals so much, is because the only time they have broken my heart is when theirs has stopped beating.
Showing posts with label laughing doves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laughing doves. Show all posts

Tuesday 9 June 2015

Nature's simple pleasures

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; 
 solitude will not be solitude, 
poverty will not be poverty, 
 nor weakness weakness.” 
~Henry David Thoreau 

And beauty will become apparent in all things.

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Sprinkle simple pleasures throughout your day. Knowing what your simple pleasures are, and putting a few of them in each day, can go a long way to making life more enjoyable.
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One of my pleasures is gardening. Gardening allows me to enjoy the simple pleasures of Nature, who never complicates things. Plants either grow or they don't. And my one simple rule is never to complicate gardening by planting something that does not naturally occur in this area, no matter how beautiful.


Another simple pleasure is taking a walk on our smallholding. Just walking for the sake of walking and not with a destination in mind. No camera, no sketch-book, no iPod disturbing the peace. Just walking. And watching the crew busy with their daily activities.


There's always something interesting to see, and I stop, and look. Laughing Doves in a tree. A lost sunflower. Take it in. Listen to the birds singing, the wind rustling in the trees, the insects buzzing around the wild flowers and grasses. What an honour.


There are more simple pleasures in my day. Reading, listening to music, washing dishes, doing laundry, watering pot plants, enjoying a cup of coffee, preparing a salad. But one thing at a time. Multitasking detracts from fully enjoying each of these activities. Actually hearing the music, the feeling of your hands in the hot, soapy water, feeling the fabric as you fold the laundry and actually tasting the coffee as you drink it. Enjoy doing each task on its own and you will discover the simple joy of living.

Taking a walk down our smallholding towards the blue gum bush at the bottom of our property.

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Sunday 6 April 2014

An amazing morning with the House Sparrows

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Huismossie [Afrikaans]


This morning I was fascinated by one of our most common little brown jobbies - two House Sparrows. There were a lot of birds busy in the garden - the Laughing Doves, the Weavers, the Bulbuls, two Glossy Starlings and lots and lots of sparrows.

But what caught my eye was a pair that stuck together wherever they went in the garden. I first noticed them on the bird feeder, standing their ground against the Robin who was feeding on an apple. Then the male darted up on a branch, followed by the female. He flitted to another tree and she followed. Then he flew down to a sign-board I have in the garden and where I had thrown some seeds on the ground. He uttered a few words and the female stayed put up in the tree. He glanced from side to side, like we do when wanting to cross the road, first right, then left, then right again. He uttered another few chirps and the female joined him on the sign-board. Together they surveyed the scenery for a while before flitting down to the ground and feeding on the seeds. I couldn't get any pictures of that, they were hidden behind the foliage.

 Looking right

Looking at me

Looking left

Looking right again

The female joins the male after he calls her
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After a while they both flew to a bird bath where some Laughing Doves were thinking about having a bath and without further ado they hijacked the bowl, had a good splash around and then flew up into a tree and sat together, preening, in contented silence. 

Laughing Doves contemplating a bath

The female sparrow on the left hijacking the Laughing Dove's bath while he looks on in astonishment

The female sparrow drying off

The male sparrow taking his turn with the Laughing Dove still looking on

The female is back in the water again!

Finally she's had enough and she flew onto a branch just above the male.


Next the Bulbuls arrived and once again the timid Laughing Doves had to wait their turn.



Then at last the Laughing Doves had the bath all to themselves.

We so often over-look these Sparrows, one of the most widespread birds in the world, who originated from Eurasia and was introduced to Australasia, the Americas and Africa, specifically along the Nile River and separately from southern DRC through Zambia and Angola to southern Africa. It is often considered an invasive species, ironically, however, its population is experiencing serious decline in many of its native regions. Despite its abundance here in South Africa, it seems to have a minor impact on indigenous birds, although it may have displaced Cape wagtails from urban areas, as they are both adept at scavenging in these environments.

It generally prefers urban, rural and suburban areas and are very rarely absent from human habitation. Being so used to humans has made house sparrows resourceful in finding unique food supplies. They have been seen inspecting car grills for insects, and will feed on farms searching for spilled seed and grain.

It eats a variety of different food, including seeds, nectar, fruit and invertebrates, using a wide range of foraging techniques. It most commonly plucks food items from the ground, but it may glean insects from foliage or hawk small prey aerially. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:
    •    Plants
    ◦    seeds
    ◦    nectar of Aloe marlothii (Mountain aloe)
    ◦    flowers of Sideroxylon inerme (White milkwood)

    •    Invertebrates
    ◦    katydids and grasshoppers (Orthoptera)
    ◦    aphids
    ◦    termite alates
    ◦    eggs of Helix adspersa (Garden snail)

House sparrows are monogamous with a life-long pair bond and will build bulky nests in roof crevices, nesting boxes and natural tree cavities, or they may chase other birds out of nests. The female will incubate a brood of 4-6 eggs for 14-18 days, then both parents will regurgitate food for the nestlings for 14-18 days until they leave the nest. Depending on the climate, pairs may raise 2-3 broods per year.

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Thursday 20 March 2014

The way of nature

Nature - it is breathtakingly beautiful, it is life, it is death. Nature brings us great joy, but it is full of sadness as well. That is the way of Nature.

The great debate is whether one should interfere with nature or not, whether to help or 'rescue' an animal in peril or not. The problem is that it is human nature to rescue things and my take on it is normally to let nature take its course. If you should find a baby bird in your garden, it is best to leave it alone as the parents know it's there and will continue feeding it. That is how it learns to fly, how it gets to know its territory and learns all it needs from its parents for survival. If you have dogs or cats, this could present a problem, so, if possible, try and get the fledgling back to its nest or at least up into a tree. It's a myth that the parents will abandon it if they 'smell human contact' on their baby, they will still keep on tending to it.

But sometimes one is presented with a situation where it is impossible not to interfere or to help, like finding an owl entangled in a barbed wire fence or finding an animal with a serious injury that requires medical attention. And living on a smallholding in the country, I am often faced with scenarios like that.


On the home-front side, it's terribly hard to watch when a hen decides it's time for her babies to make their own way in the world. But that's the way of nature. Solly's hen (above) had 8 of the most gorgeous babies and she was a really wonderful other, tending to their every need, finding them succulent insects and protecting them and keeping them warm.


But when they were the tender age of 7 weeks, she decided it was time to go back to Mr. Rooster and besides, nature was calling and she wanted to lay an egg. She started pecking and chasing them and generally being nasty until they were too scared to go near her. She then took off in search of Mr. Rooster. They clumped together, walking around the property, constantly calling for her, absolutely breaking my heart.


One of the chicks, forlornly standing at my studio door and constantly calling for mommy

They soon found solace in my garden where they kept close to me as I went about my chores. They knew me very well, as from birth I would take them snacks and seeds which they eagerly took out of my hands. They even allowed me to pick them up, trustingly sitting in my hand while I cuddled them. 

Now they are almost 4 months old, just about fully grown and quite independent, joining the rest of Solly's chickens when I feed in the mornings and afternoons and often looking for me in the house, hoping for a snack of minced meat, their favourite.


Yesterday I heard a strange, forlorn call in my garden, and not recognising it, I went outside to investigate. There was this 'unknown' bird sitting on my internet aerial, so I got the binoculars to have a better look and soon realised it was a juvenile Red-winged Starling, therefore I never recognised it's call. I have never heard a young Starling calling for its parents and it sat there for a half an hour, calling and calling, with no response from anybody, until it eventually took off to search somewhere else. So, so sad...


Many a time I have also watched as the Mynah's lead their off-spring out of the garden, taking them to another area to fend for themselves, returning alone a couple of days later. That is nature's way of protecting the food source in an area and from over-population. However, Laughing Doves do not seem to adhere to this law of nature - I have hundreds in my garden - where they breed, they feed! Smile!

 Laughing Doves early watching and waiting as I prepare the feed tables at 6am.

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