A male Beautiful Sunbird (Cinnyris pulchellus) balances busily and without misstep on a bare stem of a Aloe, which lead to some, small yellowish flowers with red borders. There, the photographer has a chance to shoot the bird, which is aptly called its English name. The male of the Beautiful Sunbird places the rather long, slightly bent black beak against the calyx of the flower and sucks the nectar for a short while. Then the Beautiful Sunbird is already on the way to the next flowering.
I had become attentive to the Beautiful Sunbird when I decided to explore the motel area in the Mole National Park in northern Ghana. Along the simple bungalows I ran to the end and discovered a very bird-rich place. A sewage pipe appeared in the middle of dense scrub with many trails to the surface and had created a small pool. You do not want to know which corners of the motel are drained this sewage pipe. Already from a distance, the smells were anything but attractive. But the combination of water and scrub attracted the birds magically. The scrub provided reasonably well protected Continue reading Beautiful Sunbird on a flower in Ghana