SPARKLES WRITTEN BY MONGOLITA

SPARKLES - THE EUROSIAN GOLDEN ORIOLE

We as newcomers arrived to this wonderful arid land of Los Huevanillas nine years ago. I was unaware of its beauty until I ventured into the surroundings, so rich in its flora and fauna. Almond trees come in bloom between the months of January and March, orange trees in bloom during the months of April, olive trees in May and June, and not forgetting the multiple blooming of the lemon trees throughout the year. The bees busy buzzing pollinating the flowers, birds singing their morning songs and different insects aerating and fertilising the soil which is breathtaking. The contact with nature made me feel alive. I was perceptive to the different birds, busy singing when I heard this distinctive and particular bird song which registered in my mind. I noticed the same singing the following year. So we named this gorgeous bird Sparkles. He visits us every year in the early month of May keeping us company throughout the summer. 

We named him Sparkles as he sparkles our day with his distinctive singing every morning and every afternoon. He doesn’t arrive with the flock like swallows do, in fact he is a secretive and shy bird. 

He wakes me up with his singing every morning, and it's usually around 7.00 o’clock. He stays there, singing at the tree top of the conifer which is just opposite to our bedroom. Then, around noon he changes position and flies to another conifer which is at the front of the house where he perches, singing to his own content till dusk.

Despite Sparkles’ striking colours of black and yellow plumage, he is extremely difficult to locate. When we hear his tweeting we sometimes reach for our binoculars searching for him for a long while but he camouflages well, unable to find him amongst the conifer branches.

His call is a harsh ‘tweeehk’ that sounds like a cat miaowing, but his song is a fluting weela-wee-oo, or, or-ii-ole sometimes with subtle variations between each singing. We can tell that his song is of joy and not of warning like other birds do when they sense danger.

He leaves us at the end of Autumn and during the winter months, he spends his time singing to some other lucky people either in central or southern Africa.  

We miss his singing during the winter months but we wait in anticipation for the next summer to brighten our summer days again.