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)

Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker

Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker is a rather small flowerpecker measuring at just 9cm from head-to-tail. Despite its small size it is colorful and quite common around the edge of a forest. To get its images one would need to either pray that the bird stay still for 5 minutes or otherwise you need a rather fast lens.

This is a male which has just emerged itself in the morning sunlight.

This is a juvenile male.

Adult males have bright orange on its belly as well as its rump and back. Wonder why experts do not call them orange-backed flowerpecker instead.

A juvenile Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker

Asian Glossy Starling

There were a few trees near my residential park which are currently fruiting. So i had the opportunity to observe three generations of Asian Glossy Starlings enjoying the fruits from just one area.

These are juvenile Asian Glossy Starlings (images above). That's the first generation.

This fellow is an almost adult bird or a sub-adult as what birders calls them. Second generation. All the images below show adult birds. The 3rd generation.

 

This is an adult bird on a "Nona" tree.