Dawie conducted a research project on Malachite Sunbirds at various localities across the Free State, studying their seasonal movements between 1990 and the early 2000s. The project began when a Malachite Sunbird, ringed by former National Museum ornithologist Dr Roy Earle during winter in the Pellissier suburb of Bloemfontein, was recaptured the following summer on a farm near Ficksburg in the eastern Free State. This suggested seasonal movements in the species, similar to those observed during a related study on Gurney’s Sugarbirds in Lydenburg (now Mashishing), Mpumalanga.
This discovery prompted a dedicated study on Malachite Sunbirds. More than 570 individuals were ringed at various localities throughout the Free State, with some birds also fitted with colour rings. One of the main study sites was the Free State National Botanical Garden outside Bloemfontein, where Malachite Sunbirds were ringed annually during April and May among flowering 𝐿𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑠 plants for more than ten years.
One female sunbird, ringed in April 1993 (Ring No. F31781) at the Botanical Garden, was recaptured at the same 𝐿𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑠 site over consecutive seasons, with the final recapture taking place ten years later. These recaptures demonstrate that Malachite Sunbirds return to the same locality year after year and show that small passerine birds can survive for ten years or more.
In May 2026, more than 20 years after completing the study, Dawie revisited his original Botanical Garden study site and photographed both Malachite and White-bellied Sunbirds feeding on the flowering 𝐿𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑠.
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