Nature Oddity

This rare Southern double-collared sunbird, with a Copper instead of a Green iridescence, was captured by Craig Adam in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve a few years ago.

Craig uploaded the photo to the Animal Demography Units Virtual Museum under the ‘Birds with Odd Plumage’ tab which is slowly building up a remarkable collection of records featuring oddities of colouration, feathers and deformities in birds across the African continent.

The Virtual Museum (VM) provides a platform for citizen scientists to contribute to biodiversity projects. Members of the public are encouraged to submit digital photographs for the Virtual Museums listed on the website, along with certain basic information. Species identifications can be made by the observers, and are confirmed by a panel of experts.

Virtual Museum records help expand the distribution databases for these taxa and, they not only confirm the presence of a species at a particular point in time, but they also provide new distribution records for species and sometimes lead to extensions of the known range of a species

There are lots of Virtual Museums on the website. Have a browse and please feel free to upload any interesting photos you might have of birds, butterflies, scorpions, etc. The website can be accessed here: http://vmus.adu.org.za/

Photo Credit: Craig Adam