Flavour of the Month-July/Aug 2021: S140/S145/Talamati

[ExFmem]

RP, thank you for all the time and effort you put into finding those wonderful pics to add here.

As said before, one of my favorite bird sightings was of a Paradise Flycatcher couple tending their nest and their three chicks. This was located just outside our doorstep at Talamati and was such a daily delight to sit and observe. I would love a do-over, photography wise, (Saturday's Giggle of the Day comes to mind , live and learn), but will always remember these gorgeous, elegant birds with much joy.

Female












Male








Breeding
African Paradise Flycatchers are monogamous. The nest is built by both sexes. It consists of a small cup of twigs and bark held together with spider web, decorated with lichen and often a "trail" of spider web and leaves dangling from its base. Egg-laying season peaks from October-December. It lays 1-4 white eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 11-19 days. They change shifts every 20-60 minutes, although the female often does most of the incubating at night. The chicks are brooded almost constantly for the first day or so, while they are fed small portions of insect prey. As they get older, their parents brood and feed them less often until they leave the nest at about 10-16 days old. They stay in a family group with their parents until another clutch of eggs is laid, at which point they become fully independent.

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[Richprins]

Ex!

[Klipspringer]

I wonder if the spider web is good for trapping parasites

[Lisbeth]

The tail of the male paradise fly-catcher is incredibly long

[ExFmem]

I wonder if the spider web is good for trapping parasites

Here's some of what I found, tho' no mention of parasite trapping, but it wouldn't surprise me if you have added info.

In nesting season, ingenious birds make use of many objects they find to construct a snug home for their eggs. Many small birds – birds like least flycatchers, most warbler species, hummingbirds, kinglets, gnatcatchers, and some vireos- make a point of collecting strands of spider silk to use in nest construction. Spider silk collected from webs is just the thing to hold nests together, the bird equivalent of duct tape.

A spider’s web is an intricate piece of precision engineering, and the spider silk it’s constructed with is amazing. Made from large proteins, it’s sticky, stretchy, and tough, and is also important as an adhesive to attach the nest itself securely to leaves, twigs and branches.

Spider silk not only acts as a glue, holding the other bits together, but it’s flexible enough to accommodate the growing bodies of nestlings. And it’s resilient enough to withstand all the bustle of raising those hungry babies. The nest is also easily repaired with additional spider web silk.


https://www.audubon.org/news/what-do-bi ... s-together
https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/environm ... r8yezy3BL/

[Klipspringer]

Perhaps only the glue for building

[Richprins]

Lions on the S145 by Bushcraft:











https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 2&p=476387

And sable!






https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 0&p=347136

[Richprins]

Kudu and sable by Flutterby at Fairfield:

[Richprins]

A tawny eating a burned python on the S145, by lowveldboy:




And a Bushcraft ostrich on the same road:

[Richprins]

Exhaustive details of Talamati Camp here:


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