This morning broke to real palpable excitement in the household. A pair of cut-throat finches were bouncing around on the seed feeder!
This is the first time we have ever seen cut-throat finches as far south as Pretoria, and definitely the first time in our backyard. Our previous sightings were Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, with the most sightings in our Limpopo bushveld area. In fact the best ever was Marakele. I decided to research, and found increasing numbers of sightings in places like the Pretoria National Botanical Gardens. There even appears to have been one or two stragglers that were spotted in Johannesburg. I have to believe that this could be the effect of global warming. Similarly, grey hornbills are moving south, and I am sure in my heart that it is due to the same reason. Looking at the Birdlife International website confirms this, as they have a predictive algorithm that shows these little ones moving south. Whatever the reason we are thrilled.
The sad part is that my reference text says that these birds are “nomadic”. We really are hoping they love us enough to stay for a while.
The other obvious characteristic is just how small they are. The two seed feeders we have up are the “Perspex Seed Feeder (Metal)”, and the “Metal Bird Seed House” feeder. Both are designed to cater for smaller birds and discourage doves and pigeons by making access more difficult. In fact, in the case of the “house” feeder, the small birds are able to get inside the feeder and face less competition. It was really interesting to note that the cut-throats preferred the house feeder, where it is even more difficult for larger birds to access the seed. Even so, the disparity in size compared to the competing bishops, sparrows and weavers was really exaggerated by their close proximity (something that a feeder like this does for a small garden). We actually simultaneously had 4 species present early on.
A final comment is that these finches seem to be popular as caged birds. Isn’t it so much more fun to have them naturally appear as free creatures and spoil you?
If you are interested in the feeders we use, please look at www.naturesheart.co.za .
