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A group of four students are monitoring along one of the transects in their school.

The spotter, Jade, sees four small birds in the tree about five metres away from them. As she observes them through the binoculars, she says, “They are small and around the size of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Three of them are mostly yellow-ish green and the last one is brownish.” The identifier, Jeff, asks Jade, “Which part of the body is brownish for the last one?”

Meanwhile, the photographer, Sylvia, is unable to locate the birds and asks the recorder, Leon, for his help. With Leon’s help, Sylvia captures a few photographs of the yellow-ish green birds although some are blurry as the birds are moving around.

Throughout this time, Jade says, “The back is brown.” Jeff then turns to Leon and says, “Let us record that we saw four Olive-backed Sunbirds then”. Leon is unsure of the identification and asks Sylvia to show everyone her photographs.

When looking at the photographs, Leon points out that one of the yellow-ish green bird and the brownish bird are definitely Olive-back Sunbirds. Jeff, looking at the Photo Identification Sheet, says “Since we are uncertain, maybe we should only record seeing two Olive-backed Sunbirds.”

Unable to decide to record two or four Olive-backed Sunbirds, they play a game of scissors, paper, stone. In the end, they record two Olive-backed Sunbirds have been observed.

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Olive-backed Sunbird ( Male & Female)  feeding at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserved, Singapore.

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How to tell the difference between the Sunbirds found in Singapore

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How to tell the difference between the Sunbirds found in Singapore

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How to tell the difference between the Sunbirds found in Singapore

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These adaptations allow them to reach into flowers to access the nectar. While they mostly feed on nectar, invertebrates such as spiders are an important part of their diet as well. Due to their feeding patterns, they also act as pollinators to the flowers that they visit.

Of hummingbirds and honeyeaters

Sunbirds are small passerines, or perching birds, occurring from Africa, Middle East, South Asia, to Indonesia and Northern Australia. Other major bird pollinator families include the hummingbirds in the Americas and honeyeaters in Australia, which have similar adaptations due to convergent evolution.

This means that the sunbird, hummingbird and honeyeater lineages have independently evolved features of similar form or structure but these features were not present in their last common ancestor.

There are seven species of sunbirds in Singapore, with the most common species being the Olive-backed Sunbird ( Cinnyris jugularis) and Brown-throated Sunbird ( Anthreptes malacensis). The rarest species are the Plain Sunbird ( Anthreptes simplex) and Ruby-cheeked Sunbird ( Chalcoparia singalensis).

When visiting our parks and gardens, you may have spotted the pouch-shaped nests of sunbirds. They are constructed from leaves, grass and spider web, enclosed with a side entrance, and suspended from thin branches. Sunbirds are generally monogamous and both parents will work together to raise their young.

Left: A female Olive-backed Sunbird sitting in the nest, incubating eggs. Photo credit: Jacqueline Chua. Right: Two Olive-backed Sunbird chicks waiting for their parents to return with food. Photo credit: Tok Yin Xin
Look towards Home
When trying to identify the sunbirds in Singapore, try to look at the habitat that the bird is found in. In an urban park, the Olive-backed ( Cinnyris jugularis) and Brown-throated ( Anthreptes malacensis) Sunbirds are the most commonly-seen species, while the Copper-throated Sunbird ( Leptocoma calcostetha) and the Van Hasselt's Sunbird ( Leptocoma brasiliana) can be found in mangroves and forests respectively.

Sunbirds are brightly coloured, sometimes with iridescent feathers, like many species of hummingbirds. They also display sexual dimorphism, which means that the males and females have evolved different colouration. Males usually have distinct colouration, which makes them more easily identifiable. However, females of different sunbird species can look very similar.

Here are some useful guidelines to help you differentiate between the common sunbird species found in Singapore.
Species commonly found in our urban parks and gardens

Olive-backed Sunbird ( Cinnyris jugularis)

Brown-throated Sunbird ( Anthreptes malacensis)

Crimson Sunbird ( Aethopyga siparaja)

Male

Photo credit: Cai Yi Xiong

Olive-green upper parts

Iridescent blue forehead, throat and upper breast

Yellow under parts

Photo credit:Tok Yin Xin

Photo credit: Ong Ruici

Reddish with dark grey under parts

Dark blue crown and tail

Dark streaks on face

Female

Photo credit:Cai Yi Xiong

Photo credit:Tok Yin Xin

Photo by: Francis Yap

Grey-olive upper parts

Pale yellow under parts

Black iris

Other species that are easily confused
The males of the Van Hasselts' Sunbird and Copper-throated Sunbird may be easily confused with each other due to their iridescent throats and upper parts. However, the Copper-throated Sunbird is slightly larger and, the easiest distinguishing feature is, it does not have a red breast, unlike the Van Hasselt's Sunbird. The following table illustrates more distinguishing features of these two species.

Name

Van Hasselts' Sunbird ( Leptocoma brasiliana)

Copper-throated Sunbird ( Leptocoma calcostetha)

Habitat

Forest

Mangrove

Description

Photo credit: David Chua

Male

Iridescent green cap

Iridescent purple-throat

Red-breast

Whitish under parts

Bluish iridescent upper parts

Photo credit: Francis Yap

Male

Photo credit: Francis Yap

Female

Olive upper parts

Yellow under parts

Photo credit: Francis Yap

Female

Grey head

Olive upper parts

White broken eye-ring

White throat

Dirty yellow belly

Tail is longer than other female sunbirds

Love Birds?
Love to bird-watch, or want to learn more about identifying garden birds? Join us for Garden Bird Watch, that runs twice a year as part of the NParks Community in Nature Biodiversity Watch series. Click here for more information.

Text by Tok Yin Xin

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How to tell the difference between the Sunbirds found in Singapore

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These adaptations allow them to reach into flowers to access the nectar. While they mostly feed on nectar, invertebrates such as spiders are an important part of their diet as well. Due to their feeding patterns, they also act as pollinators to the flowers that they visit.

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- description is clear
- they could identify the bird

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the students described it well
they were able to identify it correctly
they did not write down what they were unsure of

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they played scissors paper stone to determine what they should write down

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they played scissors, paper, stone to decide on the number of sunbirds to record

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they should try to identify it again and record what they are sure of seeing

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- they decided the number of birds by playing a game of luck
- they didn't take the picture clearly

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they managed to identify the birds

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- They should confirm with their teacher first
- Record only seeing 2 of them

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they should clarify with teachers when the activity is over?!