Sunbirds

Sunbirds - Nectar at a price

We are currently in the early throws of the winter here in South and Southern Africa and these cooler months between May - August  each year are amongst some of my favourite times for photography. 

One of the main reasons are the profuse of beautiful, colourful flowering Aloes we have here in our part of South Africa, which attract sunbirds in their droves to drink that 'sweetest' of things that the Aloes offer, 'nectar' but as so often in mother nature as we shall find out, gifts are not given freely.

Thus, this weekend saw sunbirds as our photographic quarry for my wife and I as we organised ourselves and members of one of our bird clubs (Birdlife Harties) to a Sunbird photography feast at a local nursery located near Hartbeespoort called 'The Aloe Farm' in the Northwest Province of South Africa.  Andy de Wet, botanist and owner of The 'Aloe Farm' was our host for the morning.

Marico-Sunbird (Nectarinia mariquensis)
perched on a 'Aloe' ready to take some nectar