The Singapore olive-backed nectar-loving sunbird that visits my garden is bright and chirpy in the morning. That’s why she’s a sunbird. Her effervescent presence permeates the early morning humidity as she announces her presence on the ginger. You can tell it’s a she from her upperpart olive-green plumage and completely yellow underparts. The juvenile sunbird…
These series of pictures of sunbirds show the demands on their attention as they go about their simple lives. A loud cry had startled this female sunbird to scan the heavens just as she is ready to work on the nectar of the red button ginger plant. The male sunbird, an even more flighty creature,…
On a delicate morning, with the early sun streaming through the garden precariously, the yellow sunbirds, and sparrows gather to preen themselves amidst the bauhinias, heliconias, honolulu creepers, gingers, peacocks and blue-peas. Yet it is in the midst of this peace and tranquility, that the battle for our hearts and souls continues. As Fr Josef…
The male Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis) is shown here on the Red Button Ginger, with its confident dawn roost and throaty calls while the female is demonstrably more flighty and darts around rapidly whilst feeding on the Heliconia psittacorum. (Lumix GX85; M.Zuiko 40-150mm January 2018)
The bright red flowers of the South American Costaceae species Costus woodsonii (Red Button Ginger), competes with the Heliconias in the garden for the Sunbird, with its nectar-feeding beaks, to pollinate its flowers. In their native America homeland, it is the Hummingbirds that does the work. (Lumix GX85; M.Zuiko 40-150 mm) (Convergence evolution) …