And here they ARE!!!!!! Finally I see the teeny little Malachite Sunbird Babies. To actually capture the memory on my camera is beyond exhilarating. After the weeks of waiting with the Mama Malachite Sunbird, then to know they are hatched. And today to finally see the little creatures. WOW!
Mama Sunbird is still very wary of me. At least she isn't scared and continues to come and go even when she spots me and my camera. I don't get closer than 2 metres. And then I view the nest from the safety (to her) of the bathroom. The cacti; where the little Sunbird family chose to raise their fledglings, is on one corner of our farmhouse. Daddy Malachite Sunbird is a bit more cautious and I only saw him flittingly today.
There are definitely two but I suspect there could be a third. If you look closely to the left, inside of the entrance and behind the brown chicken feather; is what appears to be a third open beak! Which would be amazing. If you have been following this incredible journey - The Birth - with me you'll know that there are only between one and three eggs laid, and even then the survival rate is 20%.
Is it not an extraordinary sight? Their little beaks open frequently in an insistent yellow gape. That's how I saw them. Gazing at the empty nest for the umpteenth time today I suddenly noticed the gaping beaks. I didn't expect to see them so soon. It is suprising how strong the tiny babies are. They are still blind and naked.
See that little unseeing head turned toward the camera? Their bodies are an unusual dark grey and striped which makes me curious if they are all male or all female?
Towards the end of the day I had climbed out of the bathroom window (don't tell the kids!) and I was trying to get a better angle with the camera. I could hear the soft whirring beat of the Malachite parents nearby. When suddenly Mama Sunbird starting chattering angrily at me.
On climbing obediently back into the bathroom I realized one of my cats was lazily grooming himself in the bath. There is no way any of my cats can get into that cacti all the way up there but I wonder what Animal insults were being hurled by that fiesty little Mama Sunbird at cheeky kitty.....
