The male Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) is eye-catching because of its prominent crimson head, back, throat and upper breast.

In a juvenile male bird, the crimson is not apparent until later when individual crimson feathers develop as the bird moults from a juvenal to a breeding plumage. As individual breeding feathers develop, the redness appears in scattered patches as seen in the image above (right)

However, an adult male during the non-breeding period sheds most of his crimson feathers on his head and breast, taking on an eclipse dress. When the next breeding season comes, he will develop his colourful plumage once again.

So is the bird above (right) a juvenile male or a male in eclipse dress? Or is he a young adult in eclipse dress?

Reference:
Cheke, R. A., Mann, C. F. & Allen, R. (2001). Sunbirds: A guide to the sunbirds, flowerpeckers, spiderhunters and sugarbirds of the world. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

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.

Susan Wong Chor Mun of Malaysia sent in this observation on 29th April 2008:

“I spotted this two female birds fly in and perched about one foot above the ground side by side (facing each other) on another perch earlier. What attracted me was, I noticed that these two birds seemed to communicate with each other.

“During my observations, I noticed that these two birds did not call. They were stretching their legs with up and down motions and turning or shaking their heads left and right – all in slow mode.

“One bird made the above movements and the other bird seemed to answer back by repeating the same motion. Later, they flew to another perch (as shown in IMG_8088 and IMG_8089) and performed the same motion.

“I noticed that at one point it seemed that one of the birds was just observing. During my observation I also noticed that one of the birds seemed to harass the other bird… and it would then move back and perch nearby.

“I was observing these two birds for about 20 minutes.

“I just could not understand under what circumstances these two female Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis) behaved in this manners.”

Anyone has an explanation? Or hazard a guess?

Lee Tiah Khee photographed this male Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) about to eat a spider it had just caught (above). He next went on to document the female Olive-backed Sunbird in the process of taking another spider from its web. The bird flew towards the web, hovered in front for a short moment and with surgical precision, picked the spider off from the centre of the web (below).

This sunbird is a generalist as far as food is concerned. Wells (2007) reports spiders as being commonly taken in the mangrove forests in Selangor, Malaysia. The bird has also been reported taking small caterpillars, grasshoppers and various arthropods.

Many of us are familiar with sunbirds drinking nectar from flowers of various plants like Heliconias (Heliconia spp.), mistletoe (Dendrophthoe pentandra) and hibiscus (Hibiscus spp.). However, the birds also need protein, especially the growing chicks, thus it takes various arthropods.

Sunbirds’ nests also incorporate spiders’ webs (1, 2).

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.

On the evening of 23rd October 2007 I was attracted by the loud and high pitch cries of a sunbird in my backyard. The bird was firing off a series of chic-chic-chwee, chic-chic-chwee, chic-chic-chwee… The cries came in the direction of my curry-leaf tree (Murraya koenigii). Being a tiny bird, it took me some time to locate it. And locate it I did.

It was a male Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) and it was moving about the branches in a highly restless manner and calling loudly all the time (above left). I thought it was gleaning insects until I noticed another sunbird moving nearby. The other bird was also a male, but an Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis). It was following the Crimson, but silently (above right).

The Crimson came into view, perching on a branch nearby, calling all the time. The Olive-backed flew and landed nearby, less than half a metre away. It then flew off, fanned its tail and landed some distance away.

The Crimson noisily followed and so the pair moved to a palm nearby. All the while the Crimson was calling and the Olive-backed was silent. And they moved around for some time before disappearing.

What were they doing? A confrontation between the two male sunbirds of different species?

On the evening of 27th December 2007, as I was watering my garden, I inadvertently sprayed water on the leaves of my banana plants (Musa). Suddenly, about a dozen noisy Brown-throated Sunbirds (Anthreptes malacensis) flew into the garden (below: male left, female right).

They landed on the noni tree (Morinda citrifolia) by the driveway as well as on the wet banana leaves. Those that were on the banana leaves took advantage of the droplets to have their bath. They rolled on the leaf to wet their feathers, ruffling them in the process and then preening them.

Soon the leaves dried up and I re-sprayed the plants, together with the taller noni tree. This attracted more birds to take advantage of the droplets. A few moved to the noni leaves. The banana leaves are large and a single leaf can take the weight of the birds (above). On the other hand, noni leaves are oval structures and are unable to support a single bird (below).

When a bird landed on a noni leaf, at the point where it is attached to the branch, it managed to stay on it, as long as the feet are firmly on the leaf. The moment it rolled around to soak up the droplets, the leaf cannot support the bird’s weight. What happened next was that the bird literally rolled off the leaf and had to fly to another to continue its bath.

During this commotion, a pair of Oriental White-eyes (Zosterops palpebrosus) was seen joining in the fun, although they stayed in the background, among the climbers along the fence behind. There was also a pair of Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier), peering from behind, but not joining in.

I had to wet the leaves a few more times to allow the birds to enjoy their bath. The entire activity lasted more than 30 minutes, although towards the end, there were only about two pairs, then only a pair before this last pair also flew off.

This is the first time I witnessed mass bathing. I tried wetting the plants a few days after but could not recreate the exciting spectacle.