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Nature on your doorstep

Clive Stewart capturing the beauty of everyday nature. https://natureonyourdoorstep.com - Wall art with a difference.

21/10/2026

Swainson’s Spurfowl (Pternistis swainsonii)

Both male and female Swainson’s Spurfowl have bare red skin on the face and throat, although males generally have larger throat patches. During the breeding season, the male’s throat colour becomes more intense. Males often climb onto prominent perches, such as termite mounds and tree stumps, where they call and display their bright red throats to attract females. 🙂

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15/10/2026

The Lilac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudatus) takes its name from its distinctive rolling flight displays. During these manoeuvres the roller dives steeply with its wings folded against its body, then performs a series of rapid rolls as it pulls out of the dive.

Each roll involves rotation around the bird’s longitudinal axis, with its body turning from side to side while maintaining forward movement. The speed and precision of these movements make the roller’s aerial displays particularly distinctive.🙂

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08/10/2026

What the female sunbirds lack in vibrancy and colour, they surely make up for in cute petiteness and elegance. This female Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus)’s subdued colouring is useful when sitting on the nest, making her less conspicuous to predators.

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01/10/2026

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver (Bubalornis niger)
A surprisingly large branch for a bird weighing only 65–98 g. 🙂
Despite their size, they carry large, heavy and often thorny branches to build their enormous communal nests. They have a complex social system in which unrelated males can cooperate in building and defending the same nest complex, and genetic studies have found that these males may also share paternity.

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24/09/2026

Southern Boubou (Laniarius ferrugineus)

Bird vocalisations aren't all programmed into their DNA.

Certain birds have largely innate calls — they are born with much of the vocal structure already in place.

Others are vocal learners — developing their songs through listening, practice and interaction.

A third group falls somewhere between the two — inheriting the basic structure but learning the timing, complexity and variations.

The Southern Boubou takes this even further. Pairs learn to coordinate their duets, with each bird responding to its partner in remarkably precise sequences.

What sounds like one continuous performance is actually two birds learning how to perform together.🙂

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17/09/2026

Due to a serendipitous moment several years ago, I fell in love with the Orange-breasted Sunbirds (Anthobaphes violacea) in my area. One male in particular captured my attention and became my obliging model. Over the years, I’ve photographed not only him, but his numerous families, watching generation after generation come and go.

Since then, I’ve taken every opportunity to observe them closely and capture their portraits and them in action, in different lighting conditions, always in the hope of that “perfect” shot, becoming somewhat of an obsession!

The orange breast comes from carotenoid pigments obtained through food, while the metallic green of his head and purple breast band reflect light through iridescence. His black and dark plumage absorbs light through melanin. This combination makes his colours shift dramatically with the angle of the light, his position and even the way he turns his head.

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10/09/2026

Love having these guys around and look fwds to greeting them each day as they come looking for a snack or two 🙂
A Familiar Chat (Oenanthe familiaris) weighs on average about 22 g, yet the stone foundations recorded beneath four nests in southern Namibia averaged 723 g — roughly 33 times the weight of the bird itself.
One of the nests contained 2,315 individual pieces of shale, and the foundations averaged 827 separate pieces of material. The birds can complete the nest in as little as 2–13 days

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05/09/2026

Bonnie 🐈 — looking for best friend - Cape Town ❤️

Bonnie is a beautiful, incredibly affectionate 6-year-old girl who adores human company. She loves laps, sleeping beside you, being brushed, tummy tickles and plenty of attention. She even has the sweetest little voice and will greet you at the door.

More than anything, Bonnie needs the right home. Somewhere quiet and loving, with someone who is mostly at home, will give her time to settle and feel safe, and is looking for a devoted companion.

Bonnie would be happiest having all that love and attention to herself, where she can truly be the superstar.

Once she trusts you, she has an enormous amount of love to give. ❤️

03/09/2026

Pale Chanting Goshawk (Melierax canorus) occur across much of the dry parts of southern Africa.
Most Pale Chanting Goshawks breed as pairs, but in parts of the Little Karoo some females form polyandrous trios with two males - Both males then participate in raising the young.
What makes this particularly unusual is the timing of mating: rather than the two males competing for access to the female at the same time, the alpha male mates with her much earlier in the breeding cycle, while the subordinate beta male mates only a few days before she lays.

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27/08/2026

Pin-tailed Whydah

A benefit of being a brood parasite: fewer blood parasites.
One study found haemosporidian parasites in just 5.7% of Pin-tailed Whydahs, compared with 56.5% of the finches they were compared with.
The researchers found that nest care was the strongest predictor of infection — suggesting that avoiding the nest may come with an unexpected health advantage.

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