Egrets

For some reason the Little Egret has decided to move in with its relatives. I awoke yesterday to have 6 of them on our lawn and one on the perch.  What a fabulous sight.  I just wish we had a great huge tree for them to roost in.  Somehow they bring such a lovely dimension to the Pond.

Tonight in the half dark D spotted a Night Heron on the perch - how fabulous was that!  We don't often get one here - in fact I only recall seeing one very early one morning, and it didn't stay for long. However, I must add that I got up in the middle of the night last week and looked outside, as I headed to the bathroom, and saw a shape in the channel. On my return, I got out the binos and looked out, and it appeared to be the Night Heron in the channel, fishing....

For the past 2-3 years the weavers have tried to establish a colony in the reeds alongside the channel.  They've attached their nests to the Sesbania and the reed stems, but it's never been more than one or two nests, and for whatever reason, they haven't made the grade and the female has destroyed them.

This summer they have tried again.  Just when I thought they may be succeeding, the partially built nests were abandoned.  However, this morning, the weavers were back.  Did this have anything to do with the lack of wind?  I don't know.  It took some watching them to decide whether they were building them or destroying them as there seemed to be much inspection of the structure, but then I saw the familiar strand of grass in the weaver's mouth, and construction time was on!
There are 2 fairly well constructed nests, which seemed to be attracting the attention of the weavers, and there are 2 partially destroyed nests which seemed to be ignored.
A juvenile Cape Bulbul was very interested in all the goings on, but they weren't entertaining any visitors and it was quickly chased away.
My hope is that a colony of weavers will be established here within our view which we can watch and monitor.

Edge side living

The wind had dropped today - slightly -after 2 days of gale force winds.

I know that Jan-Feb are the windiest months in CPT but somehow the incessant wind got to me... never mind the coots who don't stand a chance in the wind.  They build their nests only to have them blown down the length of the Pond, and then they disappear. I'm not sure if they disintegrate or end stacked up somewhere in the reeds.  Maybe there's a waterbird version of the Cuckoo who comes and inhabits abandoned nests??

This morning two Egrets caught the early light as they sat on the naked branch on the side of the channel. The grey heron had already finished breakfast and was basking in the early morning sun on the lawn. Yesterday it caught the biggest fish I'd seen it catch so far... I wonder if he was still satisfied from that?