The homestay at Tangkoko on Sulawesi had a tree in its courtyard that attracted two species of flowerpeckers. One is the Gray-sided Flowerpecker.
The title undersells the chicken a bit – the male may be very enticing with its intensely pink throat.
eBird doesn’t appear to fee the species very extremely, calling it a “tiny, stubby, plump darkish songbird” and stating that the feminine is “nondescript, all grey”.
It’s a Sulawesi endemic if a number of the surrounding smaller islands are included – a reality additionally indicated by its scientific title Dicaeum celebicum (Celebes means Sulawesi).
The Yellow-sided Flowerpecker has a really comparable distribution (together with the identical tree within the yard of the Tangkoko homestay).
Luckily for common birders like me, the feminine of this species seems to be just like the male, which saved me from having to guess the precise species of any nondescript flowerpecker feminine.
It feeds on fruits of mistletoes, small figs and wild cherries – possibly you possibly can work out your self what this tree is.
As it’s a bit smaller than the Gray-sided Flowerpecker, was generally chased from the tree however saved coming again.
Flowerpeckers have generally been included in an enlarged sunbird household, so there’s some rationale for combining them with two sunbird species on this put up. These species have a a lot wider distribution than simply Sulawesi – the photographs under have been taken on Halmahera.
The Black Sunbird isn’t even totally black regardless of the title. Johnny Money may not approve of it.
The scientific title is Leptocoma aspasia. Based on the Helm Dictionary of Scientific Chicken Names, Aspasia was a “lovely priestess of the solar, and mistress in flip to Cyrus II and Darius I, Kings of Persia”. She was most lively round 520 BC.
Nevertheless, there’s one other Aspasia, a girl in Historic Greece from round 470 BC to after 428 BC. She has a surprisingly two-sided picture – on the one hand, she was portrayed as a prostitute in historic comedy, then again, as a trainer in historic philosophy. Good at multitasking, possibly. Wikipedia provides “From the 20 th century, she has been portrayed as each a sexualized and sexually liberated lady, and as a feminist function mannequin preventing for girls’s rights in historic Athens.”
There’s a quick Youtube video in regards to the Black Sunbird which is as uninspiring as a chicken video can presumably be. If you wish to eliminate your enthusiasm for birds, I like to recommend watching it.
eBird isn’t impressed by the feminine (possibly after watching the video), calling it nondescript.
However it’s busy feeding its chick quite than displaying off.
“Juvenile resembles feminine, however is greener on crown” (Cornell)
For causes not clear to me, the subspecies discovered on Halmahera is known as Leptocoma aspasia auriceps (golden-crowned).
The Sahul Sunbird is certainly one of 8 species acknowledged by Cornell in what they name the Olive-backed Sunbird advanced, a time period that also sounds barely bizarre to me because the phrase advanced both makes me consider psychiatry or of the Navy-Industrial Complicated (disgrace on me – it ought to make me take into consideration chemistry as nicely).
In an obvious try to save lots of prices, Cornell doesn’t even have an illustration of the feminine on-line – unusual provided that the feminine utterly lacks the blue throat of the male.
Most different info within the Cornell species account appears to have been simply copied from the older account of the Olive-backed Sunbird – together with the data that the species feeds on nectar, as proven under.
