September is when our gardens turn into busy pit stops, with migrating birds flying in to rest and refuel. Some stay just an hour or two, others may hang around for a day or more. The more vegetation you have, the more food sources you provide, and the more likely they are to bide a while. The other day I watched a blackcap, in natty grey suit and black beret, stuffing himself on the shiny, ebony fruits of the evergreen Cissus striata. This Chilean relative of the virginia creeper is popular also with wood pigeons, who perch and gorge in their characteristically gormless wood-pigeony way.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 19, 2020 23:03 UTC