Female Sunbird

When i first started bird watching, all female sunbirds will look the same to me ! After going several times in the fields, you can learn how to differentiate them accurately.

Here are some of my own diagnostic breakdown: i) Eyes - the color of its eyes is not a good field mark to look at. I believe most female sunbirds have red color eyes if seen from certain angle. ii) Tip of the tail - the tip of a purple-throated sunbird-female's tail has white tips and so as a female olive-backed sunbird. So this bird is neither a female purple-throated sunbird or a female olive-backed. iii) Throat & Breast colors - these are two good field marks to look at. A female ruby-cheeked has a pale rufous or pale orange throat while the breast color of a female red-throated sunbird is more greenish. As for the images above you could see that its throat and breast are more yellowish in color. iv) Eye rings - this field mark can be a bit more tricky to observe. According to field guides, a brown-throated female sunbird has a pale yellowish eyering but not as denser as a red-throated which is slightly on a greyish-tinged side. So therefore i believe the images above point to a female brown-throated sunbird. It does not have white tail tips, its throat and breast are more yellowish and it has a pale yellowish eyering. Male sunbirds are however easier to identify. These are brown-throated sunbird (images below) - juvenile.

Olive-Backed Sunbird (Female)