Highlights today at the park (22 Sept'14)

A Crimson Sunbird rests a while on a busy schedule sipping nectar
Zone C

A fern head eagerly opens itself to a new world.
Zone D

Early in the morning, a cricket balances itself on a grass blade.
Zone D

Higlights today at the park - 9 Sept'14

Little Spiderhunter at the yellow Ixora coccinea shrub

Letup (Malay) - Passiflora foetida

Senduduk (Melastoma malabathricum)

Lime Butterfly at the Clerodendrum x speciosum flowers

Female of the Eastern Crimson Sunbird - in joyful mood

Photoshoot session with the Eastern Crimson Sunbird

Eastern Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) - Kelicap Sepah Raja- Malay

 It's one of the most attractively coloured bird at the park.  The outstanding feature is its crimson head and back. The wings are dark grey.  It is often seen frequenting the Chinese hat plant, heliconia bracts and the yellow Ixora coccinea flowers.  It is a very small bird and moves very fast, thus to get a good close-up of it I have to resort to making a hideout close to its favourite spot at the park.  The male bird produces very cheerful notes in the early morning when its forages for insects and nectar from the flowers.  The adult male has dark blue forehead and crown.

The pull of the Parrot flower

Crimson Sunbird - female

Little Spiderhunter

 The Parrot flower (Heliconia psittacorum) certainly has a strong magnetic pull to many tiny birds.  They came dropping by at the Heliconia 'Golden Torch' too.  The' not so often' seen female species of the Crimson Sunbird visited the flower unaccompanied by the male of the species. The sharp beaks of the Crimson Sunbird and the Little Spiderhunter punctured the bottom part of the heliconia bracts to get direct access to the nectar.

Crimson Sunbird - male

Olive-backed sunbird

Little Spiderhunter

Crimson  Sunbird

Tiny but very attractive Crimson sunbird

 The park is visited by the Crimson sunbird on a daily basis.  A recent photograph I took showed it resting on the orange bracts of the heliconia psittacorum (parrot flower).  It's small light body was kept stable on the bract and from that vantage point was able to punch the flower to get to the nectar.  The Crimson sunbird also hunts for small insects, spiders and flies.  Besides the heliconia it also takes nectar from the Chinese hat plant (Holmskioldia sanguinea). The Crimson sunbird moves fast and it's very difficult to get them posing a little while for a more stable and focussed image.  Here's more images the the sunbird.

Male of the species are more colourful than the dull olive green colours of the female.

Punching the bract to get to the nectar...

Birdwatch album - Crimson Sunbird

 It is seen daily at the park especially between 8 am till noon.  It's tiny size makes it difficult to watch and you have to be a little bit more patient to catch a good glimpse of it.  The Crimson Sunbird is a beauty to photoshoot for its bright cheerful colours. I often see it enjoying the nectar from the flowers of the Ixoras, Chinese Hat plant and the Heliconias.  They fly fast to the next branch and thus making it extra difficult to get a good focus or close-up of them....

Crimson Sunbird
Family : Nectariniidae (Sunbird family)

Photoshooting the Crimson Sunbird

 The Crimson Sunbird is not easy to approach.  It would normally run for cover once it catches sight of you.  The male is very colourful with the head and neck is a metallic red sheen.  I managed to get a good photshoot session with it this morning while it was having fun time extracting nectar from the Chinese hat plant (Holmskiolda sanguinea).  The bird moves fast from branch to branch and makes it  more difficult to get a clear shot of it.

Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) - male

Date taken : 18 Sept'13