Brown throated sunbird in my Singapore garden

Posted on by

2

When: September 2024 Weather: Hot 27C

Nikon P900

After trips to the US, Barcelona and Sri Lanka, it was good to be home at the weekend for a change. I was just in the living room when I heard the sound of an unusual birdcall…different from the usual olive backed sunbird or common tailorbird….I dashed to get my camera and started shooting

a rather smart looking olive coloured sunbird
a female sunbird..actually there were two of them…
and then in a brilliant flash of colour the male sunbird appeared
the absolutely stunning male brown throated or plain throated sunbird
He posed willingly…. showing his greenish head
has all the colours…green head, yellow breast, purple shoulders, red flashes on the wing and greenhead
in contrast, the female is olive above, yellow below and has a partial spectacle eye ring
it’s largish, just under 6inches and has only a slightly curved shortish beak
Here, we see the brownish throat from which it gets its name
the male preened
and the female followed suit

Having birded all over the world the last few months, some of the prettiest birds I shot this year were these brown throated sunbirds..not rare but not all that common either in Singapore…the fact that they visited my garden and folicked for about 10 min reminded me that sometimes the birding is best at home!

2 thoughts on “Brown throated sunbird in my Singapore garden”

Leave a comment