Friday, December 16, 2016

My Yellow-bellied Sunbird


The yellow breasted bird in these photos has been a minor nuisance to me for several weeks. At first, I would notice bird feces on the car door without knowing exactly how or why it was happening. I then discovered that this particular bird had become fascinated by it's reflection in the car's driver-side mirror. Obviously, the bird believed its reflection to be another bird of the same species in its territory. I've since learned that the bird is a Yellow-bellied Sunbird  - AKA  Olive-backed Sunbird - and probably female. In Philippines, it's known as "tamsi".

In the beginning, I tried covering the mirror with a rag to prevent the bird from seeing its reflection. That worked for a short time - until the bird noticed itself in the car window. Rolling down the window, and covering the mirror kept the bird away, but fear of storms prevents me from keeping the car window down all the time.

I wanted to write about my experience with this Yellow-bellied Sunbird sooner, but I thought a blog post without a photo of the bird wouldn't do. I was finally able to get photos of the bird this morning. Naturally, I couldn't get too close. Getting out my tripod allowed me to zoom in without shaking the camera too much. Still, it took 30 shots to get the 8 photos used here.







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