“Su-weet!” Imagine a really high-pitched version of Ashton Kutcher’s term of endearment for Sean William Scott’s character in the wacky movie “Dude, Where’s My Car?” That’s the sound the olive-backed sunbird makes and the nickname we gave it long before we found out its actual name.

It’s also known as the yellow-breasted (or yellow-bellied) sunbird (check out this link for more facts about it). We’ve often seen it at ground level on the road, dipping up and down a few meters ahead of our car before veering off to the surrounding vegetation.

This one alighted on Riana’s balcony (the same morning I chanced upon a Painted Jezebel butterfly), unmindful of my presence.

All pictures here are of a female. Unlike homo sapiens, the male of the species is the more stunning of the sexes, with its metallic blue-black forehead, throat and upper breast. It’s just too bad that whatever photos I managed to get of a he were at long-range not worth posting. Here’s to hoping I can capture close-ups of a male before the summer ends.

Posted in: Better Earth, Photo Gallery | Comments(0) | May 2009

This birdwatching hobby has me hooked. It’s gotten me up earlier in the summer mornings, the better to catch sight of all the avian activity going on.

I had a tough time identifying this specimen. Taking pictures of it also posed (pun intended, he he) a greater challenge, since it hops and flits about among the branches, rarely staying in one place for more than a couple of seconds.

I’m not 100% sure but, from my research, this looks like an Arctic Warbler. Check out the Migration data contained in the above link; it appears that it winters (i.e., it spends the winter away from its usual habitat in a particular place) in southern Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand and the Philippines.

If you’re lucky, you can spot the Arctic Warbler in the trees near the pre-school, amidst the more raucous mayas and the larger Yellow-Vented Bulbuls.

Posted in: Better Earth, Photo Gallery | Comments(0) | May 2009

Bold and daring. These birds came within two or three feet from me on the balcony. They’re small and compact, just about the size of a maya, but with attractive black, white and yellow plumage and a smaller, more pointed beak.

Since one of them took over my tripod (see first picture above, my personal favorite), I had to deal with trying to minimize handheld camera shake while taking shots, which was kinda difficult. I was a bit excited at being so near these elegant tits. (*I think I can sense some boys vigorously nodding their heads and panting “Oh yeah, well, I’d be more than just a bit excited to be anywhere near some elegant tits.” For the record, I’ve stated before that that’s what these birds are called. He he…)

The weird thing was, after I got to review the shots, almost all of them were of the birds’ right profile. We know from our biology lessons and National Geographic viewing that a lot of non-predatory (prey) animals have eyes at the sides of the head, compared to the forward-facing, closely-spaced location in carnivores. (A prey animal’s larger field of vision lets it see almost all the way around its body, so it has a better chance of spotting a predator and fleeing to safety.)

So I guess that after deciding that this two-legged meat-eating mammal wasn’t going after them for food, the elegant tits took their sweet time posing for the camera. And maybe – like some people who favor a particular angle when they have their pictures taken – these little preeners thought their right side looked more photogenic.

Anyway, thanks for the photo-ops guys! Bye and see you again soon!

Posted in: Better Earth, Photo Gallery | Comments(2) | April 2009