Morning rain and a happy bird

View of Zone F, looking west - the stream overflows

Shrubby Dillenia flower
in the rain

 The park received a light shower this morning which lasted till noon.  The light rains have caused the stream to be filled to the brim and in some locations have overflowed to surrounding plains.  Today's rain is hugely welcomed because the park has been experiencing  a dry and hot weather stretch since 10 days ago. I had to use an umbrella to check out the extent of the flash floods and other interesting things for the record.
Much to my pleasure I stumbled upon a lone Spiderhunter happily absorbed at siphoning the nectar from the flowers of the Yellow Ixora.  The Spiderhunter had to do some acrobatic moves while in flight to pull out the needle-like style which contains the sweet -tasting nectar.  For this reason Malays call this flower 'Bunga Jarum' whereby 'jarum' means needle.

Little Spiderhunter hoovering at the  Yellow Ixora flower
Location : Zone C 

Note the needle-like style caught in between the beak.

Little Spiderhunter comes a calling

Little Spiderhunter at the Yellow Ixora bush
Zone C

Date : 27 Aug'16

Young Little Spiderhunter in close range

Heliconia psittacorum

 An early morning walk in the park this morning was well rewarded with an encounter of a young Little Spiderhunter.  Before doing some serious harvesting of the oil palm fruits later in the day,  I decided to recce  the area to get some inkling of the tonnage of fruits to be harvested.  Hearing the familiar call of the Spiderhunter at Zone C,  I moved in quietly to get a glimpse.  It was a little bird just learning to fly.  The tiny young bird saw me but was quite friendly and allowed me to come close  for a better view of its soft and not fully developed beak.  It was among the Heliconia psittacorum's yellow bracts and flowers, experimenting with its custom-built beaks.  The trick never fails here.   Plant more heliconias to attract the Little Spiderhunter.  You'll be surprised generation after generation will make the  park their home.  Here are up-close and  personal pictures of the young chick.

Little Spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra)
Location : Zone C

Close-up and personal with the Little Spiderhunter

 When a bird is born at the park, it tends to be more friendly.  Being born free at the park and enjoying the fruits, nectar, insects, clean  air and safe access on daily basis makes the Kambatik nature reserve home to the Little Spiderhunter.  They own the park and are seen at daybreak till sunset.  Their delightful twittering are music for nature lovers.  With proper planting specifications more will be attracted to make their appearances at the heliconia and ixora plants.  These birds really need human agency to help their generations multiply.  The park is just a start....

Little Spiderhunter at the Yellow Ixora shrub
Zone C

Photoshoot session with the Little Spiderhunter

Photoshoot session on 28 Oct'14
Model : little Spiderhunter
Location : Zone B, Kambatik Park, Bintulu.
Camera -  Nikon D5100

Antics of the Little Spiderhunter tasting sweet nectar

Little Spiderhunter at the Ixora coccinea flowers.

 It is indeed interesting to observe the antics of the Little Spiderhunter this morning.  What looked spectacular was its action in pulling the style out from  the  perianth tube.  Then seconds later another photoshoot image clearly shows the style stuck in between the beak.  The style is sweet- tasting  because of the presence of nectar.  For this reason it is common to see in Sarawak young children pulling the style slowly from the tube and place the style on their tongues to taste its sweetness.  Checkout the images below .....

Pulling the needle-like style from the perianth tube.  The style connects the stigma at top of the flower to the ovary at the bottom.  The style is much sweeter especially towards the base near the ovary.

Needle-like style stuck in between the beak

Tiny birds are at Heliconia point

Eastern Crimson Sunbird at the Chinese hat plant
Location: Heliconia point, Heliconia Valley, Zone C

 The Eastern Crimson Sunbird's beak is design fitted for siphoning nectar from the Chinese hat plant.  Such wonders of nature can be easily seen in the park.  So is the Little Spiderhunter and the Brown-throated Sunbird's bill.  They are sharp and on many occasions these birds take the short cut to reach at the nectar by just piercing through the base of the flower.  The are many species of birds that can be seen regularly visiting the flowers that are purposely cultivated for attracting them at this birding spot.  The planting include ixora species, Chinese hat plant, many varieties of heliconias, hibiscus and also plants belonging to the ginger family.  Additional bonuses on the sidelines may include tree shrews, squirrels, butterflies, lizards, praying mantis, stick insets, etc..

Little Spiderhunter at Heliconia 'Sexy Pink'

Brown-throated Sunbird at Heliconia'Sexy Pink'

Have a sip of nectar

Little Spiderhunter hoovering for nectar at the Chinese hat plant (Holmskiolda sanguinea)
Zone C

Thank you for the sweet nectar

Little S[iderhunter at the Yellow Ixora flowers
Zone C

 It's early in the morning and the first visitor at the Yellow Ixora sbrub was the Little Spiderhunter.  It was intent of getting a taste of the sweet nectar.  I would normally pull the stigma and style slowly out of the long tube.  The long style and especially the bottom tip of it tastes sweet.  The style is as thin as a needle and as such Malays call the ixora flower as 'Bunga Jarum' (Needle flower).  I makes me wonder whether the Little Spiderhunter pulls out the style or just applies its suction power from its beak and tonque to collect the nectar.

A morning of wildlife

 It has been a morning of wildlife.  There's so much to see and discover.  A short walk in the park at Zone B, close to the Provinsi Yellow Palm was where the action was.  A Little Spiderhunter, two types of dragonfly and a butterfly decided to come out in the open.  The area is a little bit marshy and walking through it has made my feet wet.  Well, sometimes it is a good feeling to have your feet stuck in the mud while patiently taking aim at the wildlife.

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

Does the nectar tastes spicy?

Kantan (Malay) - Etlingera elatior
This is a spent inflorescence.

 While we normally chop into small pieces  the 'Kantan' (Malay) or Torch Ginger's inflorescences as spicy ingredient for the making of laksa, the Little Spiderhunter today surprised me with a new finding.  I have lots of pictures to show the Little Spiderhunter sipping nectar from the ixora flowers and many species of heliconia plants but to see it sipping  nectar from a spent Torch Ginger is a novelty.  The inflorescences bear torch-like cones of pink to red bracts and newly fresh ones  are excellent material for the floral arrangement. Checkout my blog about plants for more pictures of fresh Torch Gingers here ..>>>http://alltheplants3.blogspot.com/search/label/Torch%20ginger

Little Spiderhunter sipping nectar from the Torch Ginger flower

Little Spiderhunter loves nectar too

The Little Spiderhunter is back at the ixora shrub.  This yellow flowered variety seems to be its favourite ixora shrub.  It is seen enjoying the nectar from the long tubular structure within which is a needle-like style which runs down the tube.  The liquid inside the tube  is sweet tasting. 

It hoovers like a hummingbird

Little Spiderhunter - hoovering like a hummingbird

 Its behaviour is just like a hummingbird especially when it hoovers in front of the heliconia bracts to have a go at the nectar.  But there aren't any hummingbird at the park.  Instead we have an equivalent in the Little Spiderhunter that makes the park its home. With its bill gently curved it makes good fit into the shape of the bract, thus enabling it to enjoy the nectar and other nutrient insects gathered at the base of the bracts.  Surprisingly, I do notice it on many occasions piercing the bract from outside to reach at the nectar.