Whirlwind visit from a sunbird pair

Warning: poor photos below – taken in haste when an opportunity presented itself. Click on each to see slightly better detail.

Well it seemed like a whirlwind of activity anyway.
In late July we cut back a tree in the garden and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this revealed a previously hidden bird nest. For a while we had been aware of a male sunbird appearing quite frequently in our garden. He (a Lesser Doublecollared Sunbird) was soon spotted on the nest and in the company of a female. Homeowner identified!

The male in all his out-of-focus glory.

My introduction to the next phase of things was the sound of scrabbling and tapping on the window of my office. The sunbird was sorting out the competition – his own reflection in the window. These attacks on the three windows closest to the nest continued for quite a few days.

On one occasion I became vaguely aware of a certain oddness in the house. A peculiar fluffing-folding noise and scampering from Jipe the puppy. The bird had ended up inside the house, presumably after attacking a partly-open window and chasing its spectral nemesis into the house. Fortunately I was able to catch and release. In my mind I can still feel the grip of his claws and the flap of his feathers in my hands.

I guess the attack phase paralleled the courtship phase because once the window attacks had stopped, a more familiar sight was the darting about of two birds in the region of the nest – the brightly-coloured male and the (comparatively) drab female. Soon we saw regular feeding sessions taking place at the nest entrance.

Feeding time. Mother's turn.

Feeding kept the birds very busy. At the start of this phase both dogs showed an intense interest in the bush directly below the nest. Lots of sniffing and searching. Later I had an opportunity to take a look without the help of the dogs and found half an eggshell there. These birds usually lay two to three eggs – twice in a season.

There was at least one youngster...

Then this morning (21 September 2010), looking out the bathroom window I noticed that the nest had changed overnight from a generally brown colour to more of a whitish colour. It was a little startling. I had meant to do a closer inspection, but got sidetracked by the rhythms of the day. When I looked again a few hours later the bulk of the nest was gone. Soon I noticed the pair dismantling their nest.

The female hard at work dismantling the nest.

The male's role in dismantling the nest appears to be a mostly supervisory one.

When I got the chance I took a look in the bushes and found the bulk of the nest below its original position.

A view of the inner nest from the side.

It would appear that the birds had removed the outer twigs and leaves from the nest (which led to the whitish appearance once the feathers lining the inside were revealed). Then at some point the nest fell apart as the last supporting twigs were removed.

I feel a little guilty about all this. Has the nest been dismantled because I exposed it and it is therefore no longer safe to use? Probably. Although this may also be a natural cycle for sunbirds – perhaps they always make a new nest in a different position for each clutch; perhaps it’s one way of ensuring their teenagers leave home.

Homer and Jipe reckon the nest is simply fascinating

Here is a close-up of the nest:

Close-up of the top of the nest. Click to see a full-size view with fine detail of the feathers. (1Mb).

I held the inner nest in my palm and felt just how warm it became. Ideal insulation for incubation. Marvellous nature indeed.

Partners on the line: male left, female right.

Melanie has spotted a youngster in the garden but I have not yet seen one. I remain on the lookout although at this stage it would be pretty difficult to identify members of the family without their being active around a nest.

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