THE Cape white eye is a very small bird, measuring only 10cm to 13cm long.
This is a common resident found almost across the entire Southern African region.
It likes forest, woodlands, savanna, parks, gardens, exotic plantations and riverine bush. Found in pairs when breeding, it is otherwise seen in flocks of up to 100 birds in winter. They forage restlessly in foliage from the canopy to the undergrowth and sometimes on the ground, hopping and hanging agilely in all kinds of postures.
With their distinctive white eyes, they drink and bathe frequently in streams, birdbaths, puddles and amid dew on foliage. Highly vocal at all times, they often sing at the same place throughout the breeding season, starting at dawn. The Cape white eye’s voice is long, jerky phrases of sweet reedy notes from ‘teee teee’ becoming ‘yip yip twee’.
Breeding season is from July to March in KZN. They lay two to three white eggs in a nest of small, neat thin-walled cups of grass. Incubation lasts 10 to 12 days and nestlings remain for 12 to 13 days.
The bird’s Zulu name is umBicini and Afrikaans they’re known as Kaapse glasogie.
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