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Thank you! 😊

I think everyone in SA knows this call!

I love them too. They roost in a big tree in my garden every night.

Many thanks. Here in southern Africa, we have a lot of small birds that mimic other birds. Then there are the warblers that come down here from the northern hemisphere for summer and they are brilliant mimics, like the Marsh Warbler. It is tiny in size but it is able to mimic both the European birds that it hears in Europe and the African birds that it hears when here in our summer. I have a recording of one singing in my garden and someone from Europe could identify some of their birds that it was mimicking.

@@lynetterudman That's very interesting. Although it must be very difficult to know which bird you are actually listening to

Glad you liked it!

They are cool and the robin-chat is so clever to be able to copy those 5 bird calls so accurately.

Those two cuckoos that it was mimicking don't lay their eggs in its nest (as far as we know) but the Red-chested Cuckoo (Piet-my-vrou) does lay its eggs in their nest. I think they are so good at imitating songs and calls that it learns the loud cuckoo calls quickly.

Yes, a very difficult call to copy and it nails it!

These birds are incredible mimics.

Thanks!

Thanks, glad you enjoy it!

One of my favourite birds too.

Thanks for the kind words. It encourages me to carry on making these videos. Hoopoes are very cool birds!

Glad you think so!

Glad you enjoyed it

Glad you enjoyed it!

Scientists/ornithologists have studies the beaks of birds to solve the mystery.

Ornithologists have studied their beaks and discovered the little pits that contain nerve endings. These Herbst Corpuscles are found all over the birds' bodies but are more concentrated in the tips of their beaks. I forgot to mention that besides remote feeling the prey by touch, they also use their sense of smell to detect it.

They have also studied the beaks of fossilised birds and have discovered these Herbst Corpuscles in them too.

They are very bright and colourful.

Glad you like them! Lots more to come.

Many thanks!

They also detect prey under the soil by their sense of smell which I forgot to mention in my video. So it is by remote touch and smell.

Glad you enjoyed it

Yes, very true. What I also forgot to add to this video is that they also use their sense of smell to detect prey. Many people over the years have thought birds don't have a sense of smell but they do. So these birds locate hidden prey by remote touch and smell.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks so much. Glad you appreciate them. Some are a lot of work.

He certainly is!. One of my favourite larks. Confiding and always sings loudly, out in the open.

Most definitely. To me it is the call of summer.

Glad you enjoyed it

Glad you liked it

Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I've often wondered how they don't lose an eye or something but they seem to know how to avoid the sharp ends of the thorns.

Thanks for giving me the idea to make a video about the Acacia tree and the birds that spend a lot of time in it. I'd thought of doing a video like that before but the other day your comment about the tree spurred me on to actually make it.

Our pleasure!

Yes, the local birds all come and scold the snake when they see it.