SATURDAY CRITTERS - Birds at Lake Malawi

Over the last few days on my posts, Judith, Annika and myself have been putting our time in at restaurants while Daniel had diving lessons and dives.(Such is life!)  This is our last day here before we move further north in Malawi.  As we sat sipping our refreshments, I spied this beautiful bird in a nearby bush.

It is a Scarlet – chested Sunbird - Chalcomitra senegalensis.

These are the best shots I got of this bird so I will tell you a little about it.

It is 14 cm in length; 10–17 g in weight.

Male  (which this one is) easily identified by its mainly black body and scarlet breast; iridescent green crown and throat visible in good light. Lacks pectoral tufts; no eclipse plumage.

I never saw the female but she would be dark grey-olive above; throat and breast darker and more heavily mottled. pale supercilium starts above eye (not at base of bill). At close range, whitish edges to wrist feathers visible.

Voice: Loud, whistled ‘cheeup, chup, toop, toop, toop' song; ‘chak chak' alarm call however it never made any noise when I was watching it.

Although it is said to be a common resident, nomad and local migrant in woodland, savanna and suburban gardens, this is the only one I saw during my 6 weeks in Africa.  Some birds move out of arid areas in winter.

This is a lovely Little Bee-eater- Merops pusillus.

I did manage to see these birds on several more occasions so more photos of it to come in the future as we find it on this journey exploring Malawi.

It is 15–17 cm in height; 11–18 g in weight.

It is a tiny, green-backed bee-eater with a 

yellow throat, black collar and rufous underparts. 

In flight, shows conspicuous rufous flight feathers with dark trailing edge; underwings are entirely rufous. Tail square or slightly notched. Central tail green; rest of tail is rufous with black tip. Juvenile. has paler, buffy throat and lacks a black collar; breast tinged green.

Voice: ‘Zeet-zeet' or ‘chip-chip'. Status and biology: 

Common resident in savanna, woodland, forest edges and around wetlands.

Black-eyed Bulbul

This bird is very common and I saw it often.

African Mourning Dove - Streptopelia decipiens

It is 28–30 cm in length; 120–200 g in weight.

A fairly large, collared dove with a plain grey head; wide, red eye-ring contrasts with the pale yellow eye (distinguishing it from all other collared doves of the region). Smaller and paler than Red-eyed Dove, but larger than all other ‘collared' doves.

They have a white outer tail and males have a high, towering display flight.  Juvenile is browner, with wing coverts tipped buff.

Voice: 

Loud ‘cuck-ook-oooo'; grating trill ‘currrrrrrow'; throaty ‘aaooow' on landing.

  

Locally common resident of woodland, riverine forest, thickets and gardens in semi-arid savanna. 

Particularly common at rest camps in the cental Kruger National Park.

Red-headed Weaver - Anaplectes melanotis

Now if you follow my blog regularly, you will remember I showed you 3 of these weaver shots on last Wednesday post when we had just reached Montfort Cottage on our journey.  However, I found out a bit more about them from Jo at Memorable Meanders. (THANKS JO) 

 I had thought this bird was a female because it did not have its bright red head and breast of a male bird but I was wrong.  It is indeed a male and this is what Jo wrote:

This male still is just coming into breeding (he’s a fast worker) and male weavers always build the nests. The females come and inspect them, and almost always break quite a few; the males build another (and another!)  normally on a nearby branch.  When the female finally is happy with the abode, she flies down into the garden and finds teeny flowers. She “decorates” the inside of the nest which shows the male she is happy with his building skills. (Just like a woman!).

14 cm in length; 17–26 g in weight

A grey-backed weaver with yellow-edged wing feathers and a long, slender, orange-red bill; belly white. Head and breast of br. male scarlet; lemon-yellow in female and non-br. male.  

Locally common resident and nomad in woodland, savanna and gardens. 

Breeds in small or large colonies in trees; builds a large, roughly woven nest of fine twigs with a long entrance tube and you can see that in this shot.

This image above is taken from the Internet to show you the male in full breeding plumage and perhaps now you may understand why I thought my shots were a female but I should have read the small print in the text!! 

Another lesson learned!

I hope you enjoyed this post and those that are joining me on this trip, will have an early rise on Monday morning.  Be ready!

I am linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some more birds from Malawi.

Thank you for visiting and  also to all those who leave comments.