The sunbirds love the sprinklers and come for a shower. The female lacks the purple/blue irridescent breatplate of the male. If you're lucky they will build a grass lantern shaped nest on/around a lace or piece of string suspended from the eaves of the house.
Tim Kuhn wrote:
Very nice work Andy! The Figbird seems to have a specialized beak. I hate to ask the obvious but is that really an adaptation for eating figs?
Tim
Thanks Tim. The figbird is #4 yes ?
#1 to #3 is the sunbird which is a nectar feeder like a hummer and has a long tongue to stick in flowers. It does hover when feeding but I don't think it's wing speed is fast enough to allow it to hover for too long so prefers to perch.
The figbirds eat any type of fruit or berry as far as I'm aware. The flying foxes (fruit bats) love figs too, a sure fire way of having lots of noisy 1m wingspan critters screeching and arguing over them outside your house at 2am so not recommended by locals !
The sunbirds, your hummingbird wannabees are awesome. I have taken some in S. Africa and in fact before I knew, I thought they were hummers....doh! Beautiful Andy
Eric