Cape sunbird noticeably less paranoid than before

Ornithologists in Cape Town have noticed that the well-known Cape Sunbird has slashed the rate at which it moves its head when stationary. Any observer of the beautiful bird, with its stunning colour combination of red, green, blue, grey and white, will have noticed that it constantly turns its head in different directions, when standing on a branch. Because it has eyes on each side of its head it needs to turn all the time, looking for predators and food. Rapid head turning enables it to compare the images from before and after the move to gain depth perception - its brain integrates the 'before' and 'after' to produce a composite image.  However, in recent years the rate of head twisting has plunged. Says Mariel du Toit, a well-known twitcher from Bellville, 'The sunbird used to cock its head every 0.8 seconds on average. However, this has declined across almost the entire population to an average of 1.5 seconds in recent years.' Bird watchers argue over the reasons for this but the most widely held view is that the sunbird is simply becoming less paranoid. There just aren't as many cuckoos and shrikes around as before. ‘It's a psychological phenomenon brought on as the evolving species has twigged that the number of natural predators has declined significantly,’ maintains Mariel. ‘You even see the sunbird more tolerant of other species like the witogie as it has taken on an entirely more benevolent view of the world. Even human proximity appears to have become less of a threat.’ Other ornithologists claim that the sunbird doesn’t need to work so hard to feed itself. The proliferation of garden feeders has made life easy for many sunbirds, so they don’t have to look around so frantically for insects and spiders to eat. Another possible reason is that the sunbird is taking advantage of the exponential growth in marijuana planted in the Cape in recent years. It may be feeding on aphids and other insects that subsist on marijuana buds, so becoming more chilled.