The cache is a camouflaged 35mm film canister.
When we placed the cache in Summer, the area on both sides of this bridge was teeming with the Southern Red Bishop bird. They were in full breeding plumage and were a sight to see.
The Southern Red Bishop (updated common name) is, about the size of a sparrow bird with the male having bright red and black breeding plumage. Size 10-11cm. Afrikaans common name: Rooivink.
The breeding male Southern Red Bishop is coloured a brilliant red and black. The bill is short, strong and conical. The bill is black in breeding males and pinkish in females or non-breeding males. The legs and feet are pinkish brown.
This species is found in close association with reedbeds, but also in rank grass, bulrushes and sedges as well as adjacent country, which may include farmland, gardens or savannah.
It is generally a gregarious species, usually seen in flocks, which usually include a number of males and the drab looking females. In the non-breeding season the males become like the females and they form large flocks, often together with other seed-eating species such as weavers or sparrows.
They eat seeds and grain, as well as insects, which are fed to the young.
The call is a sharp "chiz chiz" and when displaying, males have a swizzly song not unlike that of the weavers, but more whining and wheezy, with many higher pitched notes.
The Southern Red Bishop nests mainly from July to December in the South-Western Cape , and later elsewhere. Males are polygynous (have more than one partner) and several males usually nest in close proximity in colonies. Colonies are usually in reedbeds, standing in water. The nests are weaver-like, but with a side-top entrance, and are attached between two or three reed stems.
Acknowledgements: http://keithroos.com/page2.htm; http://www.birdlife.org.za/fieldguide/book/species_info.php?id=140.