Spring is in the Air in the Southern Hemisphere

by Editor Lourens Durand
Published the 2nd of November 2021

Spring is in full swing in the Southern Hemisphere, a time in which we are fortunate to witness the beauty of nature at its best.

The air is alive with the cacophony of calls of birds that are full of joy at the new season and building their new nests. Adding to this symphony are those birds that have returned from overwintering in other regions: the Red Chested, Klaas and Diederik Cuckoos on the lookout for opportunities to deposit their eggs amongst those of unsuspecting hosts.

'Feed Me!' by Robert Woodbury

We see nestlings begging their parents for food, with the parents (or their helpers) giving their undevoted and unrelenting attention to the young nest-dwellers, even if the newly hatched chicks are the results of a cuckoo’s intrusion and bear no resemblance to the rest of the brood. The parents feed them, keep their nest clean, teach them to fly, to hunt for food and how to stay safe by “freezing”, hiding or fleeing.

We watch them grow into juveniles, practising what they have been taught, until they become fully-fledged adults and fly off to start their own families.

If we are lucky, we may see an Impala mother nuzzling its new-born calf, licking off its afterbirth and later caring for it, teaching it, protecting it from scavengers, hiding it in long grass for the first few months. Other wild animal species, like the Zebra, are taught to run with the herd within a couple of hours of being born. Baboons, on the other hand, will pick up their young and run off with them at the first sign of danger.

Animals at play are fun to watch, but the play is often related to learning about future needs - what to eat, how to hunt or how to protect themselves.

As time passes, we may see changes in the appearance of animals, such as bright plumage in birds or the development of muscular strength, displays and posturing, to assist them in attracting the opposite sex. Then the whole cycle starts again.

Here is a gallery of photos from 1X photographers celebrating spring all over the world.

'The Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris' by Petr Simon