Everybody's Doing It!

The breeding season gets under way here much earlier than it does up north. Some birds begin molting into their breeding plumage and even building nests in what would be considered late winter in the northern hemisphere. But of course here the average winter temperatures are higher so things heat up sooner.

That said, the White-fronted Bee-eaters have already fledged their first offspring for the season. You’d think after spending your whole life in a cavity excavated from a bank of red clay that the last thing you’d want to do is roll around in it some more. But that’s exactly what they did… vigorously, in the dozens. No fewer than 27 of these little birds, fledglings and adults, formed a vibrating mass of green feathers with a red dust cloud above them. Occasionally one left and others joined. But this went on for a good 15 minutes. They were having a ball! They were too far away for me to get a video, but someone else in the world did! Check it out.