UPDATE: Here’s Dad’s account of the day!

Sometimes you have a beautiful stage, but no players. Sometimes you see a beautiful photo, far away, and when you get there it has gone. And it can be very frustrating if you wait for hours and don’t get what you wanted.

Dad and I were wandering around in the Drakensberg when we saw a beautiful Malachite Sunbird male, all iridescent green and blue, perched in the perfect flower. He was way out of reach of our lenses, so we went and parked out at a reasonable distance to stake out the bush. It would be a perfect illustration of Malachite Sunbirds in their habitat – perched on the flowers they feed on. We saw handfuls of female Malachites in their pale brown plumage visit the flower, but from the moment we arrived, any males who arrived at the bush completely avoided it. Even after two repeated stake-outs, the closest one got was tauntingly perching on the branch next to it. We got shots of the females, but they just aren’t as impressive as the males.

Look at that cheeky little face.

Anyway. Some days you don’t get what you want, and that’s just the way it is. I’m always happy to have a day in the field, even if I come back with nothing. And I can’t think of a more beautiful place than the Drakensberg to spend a day like that. Luckily, our next day was one of the most rewarding, and among many  other things, I managed the photo below. It’s not quite the same, but all the elements are there.

Perhaps next week I’ll get on to the adventures we had the next day, or maybe we’ll revisit penguins. Who knows!