...and whenever they gather like this, then there is food.
But not the food that you will think, as in this case it was Flying Ants.
Have you ever seen birds eating flying ants? If not, you will see, in this post below, and I am not talking about a few flying ants, but I don't want to give too much away. So, I will gently lead you into the action and then I also have a video in here to show you the flying ant nests. We were so lucky to get this, but fortunately I almost immediately knew that there was something special on show.
Oh yes, they were eating something.
And then I saw what it was.
Then they moved around the big tree into the road, and the flying ants were flying around all over the place, but the birds seemed to concentrate on one specific area.
Below, you will see the area that they concentrated on.
I sauntered over, and voila there it was. The flying ants were emerging from their nests.
As stated above, I made this video that will show you what was going on.
https://youtu.be/8WPVpEGFhzg
There were also some nests next to the road.
Other birds, such as this Cape Spurfowl, also joined in the feeding party. I have even seen a few doves and Cape Sparrows getting in on the action.
And finally, the leader called for the starlings to take off, I think he was worried they would overeat and get sick.
What a special show, and we were at the right place at the right time. Not every day that one sees this, and the strange thing is that the flying ants normally breed out after a rain spell, but in this case, there was no rain for the past few days, so I don't know what urged the flying ants to emerge from their nests. But be it as it may, I was very happy to see this event.
After a while, I also called my wife over to come and have a look.
The Red-winged Starling specie name is (Onychognathus morio).
The Cape Spurfowl specie name is (Pternistis capensis).
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the post.
Photos and video by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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