Seeds and seed eaters.

A few shots of onion seeds, and some seed eating birds.

Oh no, we discovered that shield bugs breed in onion flower heads.

Some of you will remember that I posted the onion flower heads a while ago, and now the heads were busy drying. We cut some off, as they started to reveal the tips of their seeds, and I will show you the tiny size of the black seeds below.

You can see that this head below is starting to separate the little heads. Just ignore the actions of the shield bugs on it.

We put the flower heads into a bucket, and I started to rub the little heads gently between my hands. Sure enough, the black seeds started cascading down into the bucket.
Incidentally, while rubbing the heads, some very small shield bugs also fell out. My wife almost fainted, as I suggested that we should make a shield bug soup :))

Can you believe that each of these small black seeds can grow into a big onion bush.

Right! Now I will show you some seed eating birds.

This little guy is a Swee Waxbill, and he was sizing up the juicy grass seed heads.

No problem, as he pulled a grass head down, gave me a look for an applause, and started to eat the seeds.

Calmy eating the grass with not a care in the world, even though he knew that I was watching him.

His little wife was sitting close by eating some seeds in the grass that was still wet with the early morning dew.

And finally, a couple of Laughing Doves were also eating seeds in our back garden.

The male and the female have the same looks and colors, and so it is difficult to determine their genders.

They nest in the granadilla fence at the front, but at times the bigger doves give them a hard time.

I am sure that he/she knows that I am not a danger to them. Besides, I was standing in our bedroom and took the photos through the window glass.

Now here's a challenge for you!
Look at the names of the birds, Google the names and tell me what their specie names are?
Remember that we are in South Africa, and I wonder how many of you will get it right.

We are now trying to lure the squirrels back, as we had to stop feeding them, because some sunbirds were nesting inside our front garden plants. But now the nesting period is over, the babies are gone, and it's time for the squirrels to return. Our granadilla fruits are starting to ripen, and the wife has laid out some smaller ones in the garden to dry out in the sun for them. Squirrels love to eat the granadillas, and they also plant the pips in their stools all over the place.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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