Despite the terrible state of the global economy and these challenging times, we feel fortunate that February has given us nice and mild days here in Kenya (been in the 80s this week). The sky is clear, the grass is high and the landscape is a stunning sight to behold. Philip and I continue to work with our wonderful neighbors who provide inspiration to continue making and designing Zulugrass, Zuluwood and the other products that are The Leakey Collection.

When times are tough, it is important to appreciate the people that you are with and the place where you are. We are lucky to be living in this amazing environment among the Maasai. I draw such inspiration from our magnifciant surroundings. Each day here is a new adventure, and we never know what we might encounter. We enjoy watching the wildlife and recently encountered a beautiful sunbird building a nest for her family outside our tent.

It is ironic that one of our best selling notecards is called Lady Sunbird, and here was one right on our doorstep! This female bird spent exactly 8 days constructing the nest from tips of long seedy grass, small delicate twigs and secures it all with a good sticky coating of spiders webbing. About an hour after sunup she would come to work with a beak load of building material and launches in to a long morning of flying from brush to nest and back again, making about 110 trips in an hour. The male was with her on the first day, but then kept away until now, as he watches over her while she carefully makes her selections and flies them back to her very smart abode.

Philip says that he was the architect and didn’t need to come all the time, just to stop in to make sure she was getting it right. My version? He is watching out for her from the trees to make sure she’s safe from the falcons while she works. What can I say? I am a romantics at heart. Truth be known, he’s off at the nearest blossoming aloe with the boys guzzling nectar while she gets down to business. A few days ago another female, hussy she was, came and tried to steal the male away and take over the nest! With grass fluff in her mouth, our clever little mother-to-be chased her away and gave the male a good lecture; much chirping, shrill shrieking and darting about. What a commotion! Exciting as a British soap opera, but the family is back together and all is well.

Neither of them seem to mind Gizzy, our Abyssinian cat, sleeping in my chair just 10 feet away. Gizzy and I have a lovely morning ritual of drinking tea and watching the light slowly pour over the hills, listening to the honking zebra and hoots of the horn bills. On the best of mornings, Giz gets her morning strokes curled up on my lap while Philip and I watch nature’s day shift come to life. Lady Sunbird seems to enjoy the family life and goes about her business without interruption.
We are waiting to see when she lays her eggs and will keep you updated on Lady Sunbird’s progress.

Another amazing animal story. One morning, Philip witnessed an amazing sight as he was sitting on our verandah enjoying his morning cup of tea. He was watching a mother and baby sunbird feeding on nectar from a sprig of lauranthus blossoms. As the mother flitted from one red and yellow flower to another her weight made the delicate branch bounce, knocking the unsteady baby to the ground. She immediately flew to the ground where upon the baby hopped on her back, she took flight and about 3 feet above the ground she dipped and launched the baby to flight.

The pair repeated the act one more time while he was watching. In all his years in Africa he has never before seen a bird do this. We were wondering if anyone else out there has observed this amazing behavior. Send your most amazing animal story into thebush@leakeycollection.com and we’ll post the most amazing sightings on our blog. Stay tuned for more Amazing Animal Stories!