Whilst in the Cape Town area of South Africa I wanted to spend some time in Kirstenbosch botanical gardens to see for myself the wonderfully colourful bird life. I had joined a Facebook group for the area and saw some stunning photos by local photographers. I contacted one of the best, Gary Bogner, to see if I could find out in advance where the best areas were to see these amazing creatures. Gary did far better than that and gave me a half-day guided walk through all the areas that I would likely see my target species. His knowledge of the bird’s preferred flora was really helpful and probably saved me hours of looking in all the wrong places.
From my research I’d decided that I would love to see the Malachite and Orange-Breasted Sunbirds above all others. We quickly located these as they flitted quickly past, occasionally posing on the magnificent Proteas which were in full bloom and bursting with nectar. We also saw Cape Sugarbirds, the male having an amazing long tail on display. The Cape White-Eye was a regular visiting with many other small, colourful birds that are endemic to the Cape area.
I managed to squeeze a second visit in before we had to fly back to the UK, below are few shots from our visit…