Season of sunbirds
Sunbirds are an Old Word tropical family, occupying the nectar-feeding niche held by hummingbirds in the New World and resembling them through convergent evolution. Tropical regions like Singapore and Malaysia have numerous species - indeed the Crimson Sunbird is the unofficial National Bird of Singapore. Sub-tropical Hong Kong has only one resident species, the Fork-tailed Sunbird, which survives year-round by feeding on a wide variety of flowering plants according to the season. This month they have been feeding on blossoms of Bauhinia, a symbol of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Other sunbirds are occasional visitors. The Olive-backed Sunbird (later renamed as Ornate Sunbird following a species split) makes sporadic visits. One or two recently appeared at Shek Kong where they too were feeding on Bauhinia blossoms.
The most spectacular of the visiting sunbirds is Mrs Gould's Sunbird, a large, long-tailed and (if male) colourful species which passes through in early spring to feed on coral trees, Erythrina sp. Whereas it is usually recorded at Tai Po Kau, a male recently appeared at Lung Fu Shan on Hong Kong Island where there is a stand of these exotic trees. The scarlet-breasted subspecies dabryii breeds in southwest China, some distance to the west of Hong Kong, raising the intriguing possibility that these birds make an annual detour specifically to feed on our coral trees.
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