Bottlebrush trees in Malaysia’s hill stations
Posted by BESG on 30 November 08, Sunday
Contributed by Adrian Lim
Bottlebrushes (Callistemon spp.) are shrubs to small trees that were introduced to Southeast Asia from Australia. These are attractive in their colourful flowers that bunch just behind branch tips, looking like bottle brushes, thus the common name. The colours of the flowers are due to the long stamens – mostly red, but there are some that are yellow or green.
Bottlebrushes are popularly grown in gardens, parks and along roadsides in Singapore where they attract many species of birds that visit for the copious nectar that the flowers secrete.
These trees are also popularly grown in Malaysian hill stations where they attract montane birds, as the Streaked Spiderhunter (Arachnothera magna) shown at the top of the page. Other birds that commonly visit the tree include Orange-bellied Leafbird (Chloropsis hardwickii) and Fire-Breasted flowerpecker (Dicaeum ignipectus)
Image of Streaked Spiderhunter by Adrian Lim.
This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
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Categories: Feeding-plants
Comment by Howard Banwell
Made Sunday, 30 of November , 2008 at 1:58 pm
In addition to the birds mentioned, I have also seen the Black-throated Sunbird and Long-tailed Sibia feeding at a bottle brush
See:
Comment by Howard Banwell
Made Sunday, 30 of November , 2008 at 2:00 pm
The XHTML didn’t seem to work in my earlier comment. The web references are:
http://www.pbase.com/howardbanwell/image/105687558
http://www.pbase.com/howardbanwell/image/105687625
Comment by BESG
Made Sunday, 30 of November , 2008 at 9:48 pm
Thanks for the additional info, Howard. Every bit helps.
