Protea cynaroides and Cape sugarbird

Caught in the act! The Cape sugarbird, famous protea pollinator of the fynbos region, visits a favourite restaurant for nectar, as well as for ambushing some sweetness seeking insects.

The hungry bug visits seductive floral food stores at its peril! A flowerhead is a free for all marketplace, as well as a location of ensnarement, a killing field. Yes, the most beautiful flower is for some the theatre of violent interspecies crime, where some that eat are eaten. Patient movie crews shoot box office hits here!

A sugar and protein diet, low in fat is not in vogue with Cape sugarbirds even in these Banting times. For sugarbirds exercise enough not to worry about recovering their health or maintaining proper body mass. Sure, they don't live terribly long, but who's counting? We're grabbing the day, living in the moment.

Photos of sugarbirds hovering over Protea cynaroides flowerheads may beat this one in competitions, but every life moment is real. Judging from the length of its tail, this alert specimen is a female or possibly a moulting male as it is that time of year, early November (Maclean, 1993).