I am fortunate enough to have worked from home for the past 14 years. My office has a set of french doors which open onto the garden. We live along the Outspan bird sanctuary which has a stream flowing through it. This sanctuary has many trees so looks like a forest. The Outspan stream flows past our home and on down to the Jukskei spruit. Many birds wander up and down the stream foraging.

We are fortunate enough to have many birds resident in the area, probably because the is so much food around. It helps that we provide seed, fruit and suet which attract a variety of our avian friends daily.

“Tame birds sing of freedom. Wild birds fly.” ~ John Lennon

Over the years, and especially after the dry period around 2015, many bushveld birds moved into the urban areas to find food. They found a bounty and never returned to the bushveld. Johannesburg has many parks and is a well treed city which also provides a haven for our avian friends.

In recent years, we have regularly seen and heard a pair of Grey-headed bushshrikes. They have a distinctive long piping call which changes to a clicking sound when they are alarmed. Their clicking sounds just like the clicking of an electric fence. The clicking is normally due to the presence of a pair of Little sparrowhawks which are resident in the well treed Outspan bird sanctuary.

An adult Rose-ringed parakeet with its vivid green plumage and a black and rose ring around its neck. It has a bright red beak and a red-orange eye ring. This is one of the world’s worst invasive parrot species. Rose-ringed parakeets were first introduced to South Africa in the 1900s as part of the pet trade according to an report by the Mail & Guardian.

In the last six months we have had regular visits from as many as five Rose-ringed parakeets at one time. These parakeets have a call which is a harsh shriek but their beautiful vivid green plumage makes them very acceptable. These parakeets come into the garden for the suet but they are relatively skittish.

Juvenile Rosy-cheeked lovebirds. We have had as many as 15 arrive at one time. They compete with the doves and weavers for the seed we put out. These lovebirds are endemic in Namibia and the population in Johannesburg must have grown from pets that managed to escape.

The adult Rosy-cheeked lovebird has the rosy cheeks but the fledged juvenile can vary in colour from a vivid green with a light pink flush across it face and throat to a blue beige colour. The adult’s rump plumage is a powder blue and the colour of the underside of the rectrices is a barred vivid orange, black and green colour combination.

“In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” ~ Robert Lynd.

Although these lovebirds are monogomous and at times have a very confiding manner, they can be very aggressive towards each other when it comes to dominating the available seed. They certainly dominate the weavers and sparrows on the seed tray.

A male Southern masked weaver in his full breeding plumage. The female is a similar size but lacks the colourful yellow plumage and black face and neck mask. These weavers are seed eaters but also enjoy the suet. This male was perched in a budding prunus looking down at the activity around the feeding tray.

An adult Grey lourie or Go-away bird. It’s latter name is onomatopoeic. It has light grey plumage and when excited raises its grey crest in the same way as other turacos. These lourie’s come into the garden for the fruit we put out. In late winter they gorge themselves on syringa berries and in early spring also eat the new buds on the oak tree in our garden.

An juvenile Speckled mousebird with its partly grown rectrices. These unique birds fly in as a group of six or more birds. They come in for the fruit and the berries on the puzzle bushes and bottlebrush trees. Like swifts, mousebirds are pamprodactylous meaning their two outer toes are reversible, so all four toes can be directed forward at will. Being able to rotate all four toes to face forward enables them to feed upside down, hold food with their feet, and perch with their legs positioned at strange angles.

The Speckled mousebird’s feet are large, and their legs widely spaced. Mousebirds do not perch like most other species and tend to rest their abdomens on their perch. They could be considered “living fossils” being survivors of a lineage that was massively more diverse in the late Paleogene and Miocene ages. These birds are unrelated to anything else alive today.

An adult Cape glossy starling with its iridescent blue plumage and bright yellow eye. These starlings are frequent visitors to our feeding table to enjoy the fruit and suet. These birds are very talkative which makes great accompaniment when gardening. Of the seven species of glossy starlings, only the Long-tailed and Burchell’s starling have a black and not a bright yellow eye.

“Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain.” ~ Douglas Coupland

A few months ago a pair of Red-winged starlings were regular visitors to our fruit and suet offerings. These starlings are frugivores and insectivores so enjoy the fruit and the suet in particular. The brick-red colour is only on the primary wing feathers.

The female Red-winged starling is the same size as the male and has the same clearly evident brick-red primary wing feathers. The female has a grey head with darker streaks and her blue glossy plumage is somewhat duller than that of the male. This species of starling has a variety of call which are more like whistles with the most frequent sounding like an extended “spreeooo”.

Two adult Green woodhoopoes with their iridescent green neck and back plumage, and bright red beaks. The fledged juvenile has purply-blue neck and back plumage and a black beak. The juvenile’s distinctive white and blue barring has still to fully develop on its rectrices.

An adult male Grey hornbill feeding suet to his female. The female has a creamy coloured maxilla (upper mandible) with a dark red tip to both mandibles. These hornbills have a distinctive piping call which has a sad tone to it.

The adult male Grey hornbill has its diagnostic dark black beak with a noticeable but small casque on his upper mandible. A pair of Grey hornbills are resident in the area and occasionally come to visit to feed on the suet balls we put out for the birds.

We have a pair of Southern boubous in our area and they can be heard during the day dueting to each other. These shrikes have a distinctive black upper parts, a buff-beige under parts and a clear white wing bar. They have a wide variety of calls in their repertoire. The boubou prefers to forage in the undergrowth and only occasionally presents itself out in the open. They are not fruit or seed eaters and are very selective on the suet.

A pair of Cape Robin-chats are resident on our property. These are shy but inquisitive birds with an orange throat and rump, grey upper and under parts and a striking white supercilium, which separates the blackish lores and ear coverts from the dark grey crown.

This species of Robin-chat is always the first to start singing in the morning at the first hint of light. When on alert it flicks its tail up. The masked weavers chase the robin-chats when they get too close to the weaver’s nest.

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild.” ~ Stephen King

A fiesty małe Southern masked weaver guarding his seed against all birds smaller than himself. The Southern masked weaver has a red eye and its crown is yellow to just above the beak. The Lesser masked weaver has a yellow eye and the yellow plumage on its crown only extends half way across its head and the black mask extends from its neck across it cheeks and include the front part of its crown.

An adult male Cape sparrow. It has the white and black markings on its face and neck and rusty brown upper wing coverts. This male did not have the usual black crown so its grey nape and crown suggested it still had to develop its full adult colouring.

The female Cape sparrow has the same colouring as the male except it has a grey head, neck and nape and no distinctive black markings on her face and neck. The female has a clear white supercilium.

A pair of Crested barbets are resident in our area and they can often be heard trilling. They are very fond of the fruit we leave out for them. They tend to dominate the fruit and are only pushed off by the Grey Louries. The smaller Black-collared barbet defers to its larger black, red yellow and white plumed cousin.

“Birds chirping around you is a beautiful realisation that life is incredibly good. Let this sound be a gentle break in your routine.” ~ Hiral Nagda

The Crested barbet is also fondly referred to as the “marmalade bird”.

A family of Black-collared barbets regularly come to visit the fruit tray. These barbets can be quite aggressive to some birds that are bigger than themselves. They have a very strong beak which is probably the deterrent. This species of barbet is smaller than the Crested barbet and is pushed off the fruit by the latter.

The intensity of red face mask seems to vary according to age. I have never seen a Black-collared barbet with a yellow face mask, a yellow morph. This barbet has dark red eyes. Black-collared barbets have a distinctively different call to the Crested barbet and can be seen bobbing and quivering their wings while duetting.

A female adult Thick-billed weaver is also an occasional visitor. I have not seen the male in the garden but I know they nest in the reeds in a small dam about a kilometre down the stream. These weavers prefer the grass seed and also do not compete on the feeding tray.

We normally see the Southern boubou hopping around in the undergrowth in the garden. They tend to be more secretive than the other birds with the exception of the Cape Robin-chats. Among the vast repertoire of the Southern boubou, it has a piping call like a Grey-headed shrike but its call does not extend as long as that of the Grey-headed bushshrike.

A Green woodhoopoe holding precariously onto a thin branch. We have a family of six which come through the garden twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. They seem to travel up and down the Outspan stream foraging for grubs and insects under the bark of the many trees growing along the stream. They are particularly fond of the suet balls and can easily access them with their long beaks. Interestingly, the Indian Mynars will not tangle with these woodhoopoes because of their long beak.

A male Red-headed finch. This is an occasional visitor. A few of these finches come into the garden at times when the grass seed is abundant. They cannot compete on the feeding table with the weavers and doves.

A Ground dove – I think! I do not know what species of dove this is. I have only ever seen a similar looking dove in Mauritius. This character stayed for a few days and we have never see it again. It was bigger than a Laughing dove but was shunned all all the doves.

An adult Laughing dove. With the seed we put out on the feeding table, we attract 20 plus Laughing doves and a few Cape Turtle and Red-eyed doves. The Laughing doves have a soft call that sounds like ‘coo-coo-cuk-coo-coo’. These doves have exquisite soft pink, cinnamon, brown and bluish grey colouring on their wing and back feathers. As demure as these doves appear they can be quite aggressive with each other using their wings to hit their opponents when feeding.

The Red-eyed dove looks like a large turtle dove but has a red eye. We usually only see one or two of these doves around at any one time.

We have several Karoo thrushes in the garden. They enjoy the fruit and the suet. We often see them foraging on the lawn for insects and worms. The Karoo thrush is easily mistaken for an Olive thrush but the latter has a dark brown maxilla whereas the Karoo thrush has a yellow maxilla and mandible.

A Tawny flanked prinia is a regular visitor but prefers to forage for insects in giant strelitzia, clivias and and other shrubs.

We had Black sparrowhawk in the garden a year ago when a pair were nesting in the poplars along the Outspan stream. We even had an African Harrier-hawk visit a couple of times a few years ago, but we do have daily visits from a pair of Little sparrowhawks. They use the cover of the large trees in the garden to launch their blisteringly fast aerial attacks.

These images illustrate the variety of birds which we are fortunate enough to have come into our garden. Feeding the birds is certainly helps attract them.

There are many more species of birds which we see in the garden varying from Cape white-eyes to bronze mannikins. We often hear a woodpecker in the olive tree next to the house but I have not seen it clearly. We have several Hadedas which aerate our lawn and flower beds for us. Although the Hadeda is an attractive ibis, it is very noisy. Tongue-in-cheek we refer to the Hadeda as a “sabre toothed pigeon”.

“Every bird, every tree, every flower reminds me what a blessing and privilege it is just to be alive.” ~ Marty Rubin

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike