I thought that for a change I will treat you to a bit of bird magic.

The sociable weaver (Philetairus socius), is a bird endemic to Southern Africa but mainly found within the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and, way before arriving to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, their nests start to appear by the side of the road in their hundreds of shapes and sizes.

They are compound community nests and, as such, one of the unique and rather spectacular nests build by any bird! Nests are built around large and sturdy structures like acacia trees or sometimes even telephone poles.

They can house several hundred birds that use the central -warmer- compartments to spend the nights while the peripheral ones are used to obtain shelter from the heat of the day as they are several degrees cooler than the outside.

Some of the nests can weigh several tonnes and are built over many years, sometimes even over one hundred! However, their size and weight are sometimes their doom -particularly during the rains- as they collapse as the tree branches/support cannot cope with their immense weight!

The nests offer shelter and vantage points to other birds such as the pygmy falcon and goshawks while red-headed finches and rosy-faced lovebird use them for breeding . Other bird species such as pied barbets and scaly-feathered finches, among others may use them for roosting while larger birds such as owls and vultures can build their own nests on top of the sociable weavers’.

As it can be imagined, such nests are targeted by many predators including snakes (black mambas, cape cobras and boomslangs), baboons, rats and genets. To avoid their natural enemies, sociable weavers build their nests on electricity poles or trees with long naked trunks.

However, some of the birds near the Kgalagadi have taken their precautions much further: they build them on thin air!

 

In this way they clearly avoid a lot of the usual predators!

 

Well, in fact some birds have skillfully built their nest hanging on the electricity wires but, I am afraid, that was probably not such a good idea as it surely will be taken down by the maintenance team of the electricity company while it is possible thar their neighbours on the right may still be there next year!