Punda Maria Camp: Kruger National Park ...
Sunbirds, the Moon and the Common Coral Tree
We were back at Punda Maria in early August and were able to see the late winter blossoms of the Common Coral tree. There were 2 of these beautiful bright red (coral) spectacularly flowered trees just outside the huts H7 and H8 we occupied.
This tree became a favourite of mine that day and I got a sore neck
looking up into and through the branches. Not only did it offer the
perfect venue for "late afternoon tea" for the sunbirds we would
photograph, and a haven for a pair of Woodpeckers but it just so
happened also to be in the perfect position at the right time to get a
good shot of the moon passing through too. This view alone says so much
about the Kruger and why I repeat, ad nauseam no doubt, that the Kruger
is FAR more than the Big 5. We saw a number of Coral trees on the
circular drive around the Punda Maria camp.
Not only were these Common Coral Trees a beautiful sight in their own
right but the flowers had attracted 3 species of Sunbirds we were able
to photograph although with some difficulty since they moved around so
quickly and the branches flowers and trees made focusing a bit tricky.
The blossoms of this tree are unusually shaped, large and seemed to be
perfectly adapted for the long beaks of the sunbirds.
The three types were ... click the images to enlarge
Scarlet-chested Sunbird... a truly magnificent bird I'd never seen
before. The male apart from its bright scarlet breast and green neck is
almost all black while the female was by comparison dressed in an
overall olive green type of colour with a speckled breast
The Collared
Sunbird has the shorted bill of all sunbirds which helps in
diagnosing the bird. These birds are bright yellow on the underparts
with a bright green head. It enjoys riverine and dense woodlands as
habitat.
The
White-bellied Sunbird the male shows a bottle green head and white
belly with like so many other sunbirds the female taking a back seat in
the plumage area being essentially light brown with an off-white chest.
The lower image is the Sunbird on an aloe type plant photographed a
couple of days later at Mopani Camp. This shows perfectly how useful
that long pointed beak comes in useful for extracting nectar.
A pair of Cardinal Woodpeckers
Cardinal Woodpecker (
Dendropicos fuscescens fam. Picidae) Kruger Park Birds & Birding. had also been working hard in the tree
by the looks of the "pecking" that had been carried out on this single
branch.
.
The second picture is a close up of the Cardinal Woodpecker at rest.
