Olive Backed Sunbirds in Singapore are quite common. They are used to human activities and habitats and often setup nests near to us. Season 1 brought us a lot of joy (and loud singing from Daddy Olive Backed bird haha), read our previous Olive Backed Sunbird story.
Handsome Dad. We know the birds have at least 2 nests in the vicinity. He is always on the look out for dangers, and will always call out to Mommy Sunbird.
#skb小鸟 (Instagram hashtag to track the Sunbirds) to track “Season 2”, nest started shortly after Chinese New Year. As usual, we noticed the parents inspecting our “plant”. And very soon after, we noticed threads, and debris on the floor.
Just like episode 1 (no eggs in Season 1 when nest fell), the nest fell and two eggs ROLL out!
Despite the initial worry, we are glad both chicks are healthy, and always fighting for food.
Poor Mum, so 伟大 (self sacrifice). She had to stay overnight to incubate the eggs until hatch, and take care of the chicks all the way. As the chicks grow bigger, lesser space for her to sleep comfortably :p
In Season 1, one of the chicks died (due to malnutrition) and was removed by the parent Sunbirds (more room in nest)
Video (link) : Checkout our Olive Backed Sunbirds in Singapore. The Daddy Sunbird is very active in Season 2.
It only took Mommy Sunbird 1 week plus to construct a nest (bigger than herself!). One Month 23 days from nest to takeoff, that’s how fast our “tenants” graduated 🙂
Timeline:
01Feb – First thread spotted
16Feb – Mum sleep over
25 Feb – Egg spotted
03 Mar – Nest drop!
09/11 Mar – Chicks hatch!
24 Mar – Smaller chick nearly fell off!
24 Mar – Bigger chick flew off
During the last week, another funny episode happened. As the chicks are fledgling, perhaps nest is too small, one chick fell and got entangled! Mommy Meng Choo and Boon Xin did not dare to place the distressed bird into a temporary box. Luckily Boon Yee(no3) came home and help the chick settle back into nest.
Video (link) : Baby chick stuck!
Sunbirds, thank you for the beautiful memories 🙂
..ps.. as we speak, the smaller Sunbird is still left in nest, older chick has already flown off 2 days ago with parents. The Parents are still bringing food to leftover chick and encouraging him to take off.
..Update 28Mar – 2nd chick flew off with parents hooray!
Read our Season 1 story here.