Apart from (or perhaps due to) the compulsive affliction of being constantly distracted by any movement in your peripheral vision, you are often treated as if you are ‘not quite right’ by the general public.
Introductions at parties usually start off really well. You are introduced to a lovely young person who immediately shows interest when they are told that you are in conservation. They excitedly ask if you work in Kruger, and study elephant, lions or leopards? ‘No I am involved in bird conservation’ you reply, and almost immediately the smile on their face becomes frozen and their eyes glaze over. ‘Ohthat’sinteresting,’ they say and soon they are looking over your shoulder to see who can rescue them from this weirdo.
Another difficulty is that your lifestyle is dictated to by the birds in your life (yes, my wife, but also the feathered variety). We have Lesser Striped Swallows nesting above our front door and this has meant a very dirty stoep and early morning twitterings waking us up before sunrise. There is also a Cape White-eye nest in the small tree next to the path to the office and the poor little bird would dash out of the nest every time we walked past, so now a new rather circuitous route is used to get to the office. Our bird guide had a Bar-throated Apalis nesting outside one of his windows, so for three weeks his window was kept closed, even though the temperatures soared to 33 degrees.
Our cat food bills have also rocketed over the last few months, Chorister Robin-Chats, Southern Boubous and Cape Robin-Chats have figured out that left-over cat food is a great high-protein, easy meal for their demanding chicks. Seconds after the cats walk away from their bowls, the bird parents start a relay of flying in and back to their chicks, easily finishing off half a bowl of food a day. This, added to the peanut butter, seed and fruit we put out each day for the hungry, demanding mob of birds that frequent the Kurisa Moya birdy restaurant is costing us a small fortune!
It is all worth it though, when we enjoy breakfast with up to 20 species in the morning. Swee Waxbills and African Fire-Finches tuck into the seed while Sombre and Yellow-bellied Greenbuls, Robins, Spectacled Weavers and Cape White-eyes help themselves to the fruit and peanut butter. We even have Purple-crested Turaco’s (Louries) bathing in our birdbath. Like any good restaurateurs, we know many of our regulars ‘personally’ and when a new visitor pops in, it can cause quite a stir. This morning the Fire-finches brought their newly-fledged brood of three scraggly little youngsters to the restaurant for the first time, much to the consternation of the older Cape Robin who is somewhat set in his ways and doesn’t like too much wild chirping from the youngsters.
Being fascinated by birds is sometimes a disadvantage socially, but there is always the feeling that you are in on one of the greatest secrets that many people are missing out on, and it is right there in front of them all the time! BIRDS! Once you discover this secret world, you can’t believe that you were oblivious to it all this time. Somewhere out there, birds are doing fascinating things right now while you are behind your computer reading this! So even if people look at you strangely to start with, get outdoors and find yourself a bird to look at.
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