Dancing Along With the Dark-capped Bulbul (Tiptol)

After many years of photographing birds, I have come to the conclusion that it is mostly luck. If you managed to be standing in that particular spot, and the little friend flies to a specific branch, you are merely lucky to have that shot.

Standing in the Kruger National Park recently, I stood at a lookout point and this dark-capped bulbul (Pycnonotus tricolor) flew to a branch just in front of me. I did not move. I just leaned into it and took some photographs of this little friend. But then a starling came and scared the little friend. Luckily, I could get these photographs.

He is so small, I think the size of a human hand. But he is so beautiful, the colorful yellow feathers hiding from us, the dark-capped face. It was cold so he puffed himself up a bit.

Normally, they sit on high tree tops. I could never get close enough to them to take photographs of them. For a week long, I could hear their call but they never moved down the tree. But in the park, it sat at eye level with me.

It was at this point when the starling wanted all the attention. It literally flew to the branch of the Bulbul friend. I tried to take more photographs, but the friend was too scared to come back. The mean starling wanted to be the center of attention.

In any case, this little friend was so beautiful and I wanted to share it with you. We are often so busy with our things that we miss the beauty of life right in front of our eyes. We should just go outside and look a bit. So many people work from early the morning until late the night, never seeing the beauty of life. Someday it will be too late, life will no longer be the same. It is a sad fact about life, but it is true. If we do not grasp every moment and make the most of it, we will never get it back.

For now, happy birding and stay safe.

All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens. The musings are also my own.