Olive-backed Sunbird



Singapore Infopedia

Background

The olive-backed sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) is one of Singapore’s resident birds.1 In 2002, it was one of five birds shortlisted by the Nature Society (Singapore) in an unofficial campaign to select Singapore’s national bird.2

The olive-backed sunbird is featured in the Bird Series S$20 currency notes released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore between 1976 and 1984, as well as in the Bird Series Cashcards launched by Singapore Mint in 2001 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the currency notes.3 It also appears on the S$2 stamp of the 1962 postage stamp series which depicts local flora and fauna.4

Description
The olive-backed sunbird belongs to the Nectariniidae or Sunbird family.5 Members of this family, with their metallic plumages and slender decurved bills, superficially resemble the hummingbirds of Central and South America,6 especially since they are also able to hover when collecting food.7 Male olive-backed sunbirds have a distinctive, iridescent bluish-black forehead, throat and upper breast, and bright yellow underparts.8 The females have an olive-green plumage on their upperparts and completely yellow underparts.9 Juveniles are similar to the females in colour, the olive-green colouration of their upperparts offering camouflage during this vulnerable stage of their lives.10 Adults are about 11 cm in length.11 Its call is a high-pitched metallic chirp, “cheep, cheep, wheet”, or a high-pitched rising “chee”.12

Reproduction
The nest of this species, as with other members of the sunbird family, can be best described as an upside-down pear with a pendulous stalk.13 It is often hung on a twig or branch or even unused man-made objects such as a telephone wire or cord,14 and even hanging laundry in Singapore’s urban setting.15 The female collects nesting material and builds the nest, while the male will be around nearby, calling or singing.16 The nest is built using materials such as dead leaves, moss, spiders’ webs, lichens, seed cases and even caterpillar frass.17 The entrance to the nest is just above the middle of the structure, with a little projecting eave for the parent to perch and enter.18 Inside, the nest cavity is neatly and cosily lined with materials such as tree cotton or lalang down.19 They have been known to re-use the same nest up to seven times.20

Olive-backed sunbirds fly low among trees and bushes, making observing them easy.21 The locations of their nests in Singapore have been a source of surprise and entertainment to the amateur naturalist, as the olive-backed sunbird seems to like nesting in close proximity to humans.22 Articles and letters written to local media have mentioned these birds nesting in small, spindly plants located along the corridors and balconies of public flats and private apartments,23 as well as in trees close to windows of houses, and even in bedrooms of large houses.24 Plants where nests have been built include bougainvilleas and figs.25

Olive-backed sunbirds have been recorded to nest all year round, with multiple broods. A clutch of 1–3 mottled, greyish-white eggs are usually laid.26 The parents take turns to look after their young.27 

Diet
The olive-backed sunbird feeds mainly on nectar extracted from the base of blooms belonging to the CallistemonErythrinaRusseliahibiscus and canna with its curved beak,28 as well as small insects,29 including locustids, ants and spiders. It has also been observed stealing from spiders’ webs.30 It also likes to drink from and bathe in small pools of water that collect in plants such as bird’s nest ferns, alocasias, diffenbachia and anthuriums.31

As it feeds on nectar and small fruits, it also serves an ecological role as a pollinator of flowers and spreads seeds it has consumed.32

Distribution and habitat
This species is found across Southeast Asia and Australasia, from southern China and mainland Southeast Asia to Maluku, New Guinea and north Australia.33

This is one of the most common sunbirds in Singapore, where six other species of sunbirds have been recorded, all of which are resident.34 The olive-backed sunbird can be found in almost every habitat except denser forests, and is a frequent visitor to gardens, parks35 and coastal areas.36 It is very common and is encountered with at least 90 percent probability in its preferred habitats.37 It seems to have little fear of humans, as shown by its nesting behaviour.38

Variant names
English: Yellow-breasted sunbird39
Malay: Kelicap Biasa; Kĕlicap;40 Kelicap pantai41
Chinese: 黄腹花蜜鸟 (Huang fu hua mi niao)42 (“Yellow-bellied nectar bird”)



Author

Eunice Low

 

References
1. Yong Ding Li and Lim Kim Chuah, A Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore (England: John Beaufoy Publishing, 2016), 139 (Call no. RSING 598.095957 YON); “Cinnyris jugularis,” Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, accessed 6 March 2017; David R. Wells, The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Covering Burma and Thailand South of the Eleventh Parallel, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Vol. 1, Non-Passerines (California: Academic Press, 1999), 636–37. (Call no. RSING 598.0959 WEL)
2. Margaret Perry, “Which Should Be the National Bird?” Straits Times, 27 May 2002, 1. (From NewpaperSG)
3. Sim Chuan Hup, Singapore Money Book (Singapore: Moneyworld Asia, 1994), 27, 31 (Call no. RSING 769.5595957 SIN); Wee Yeow Chin, Tan Wee Kiat and Wang Luan Keng, One for the Birds: Singapore Stamps & Money (Singapore: Tan Wee Kiat, 2011), 36. (Call no. RSING 769.5695957 WEE); “Bird-Series CashCards, New Coin Set Launched,” Straits Times, 20 July 2001, 5 (From NewspaperSG); K. H. Choo, “Fun Facts about the Olive-Backed Sunbird,” New Paper, 26 April 2016. (From Factiva via NLB’s eResources website)
4. “Birds and Orchids on New Singapore Stamps,” Straits Times, 1 February 1963, 11 (From NewspaperSG); Singapore Postage Stamps Catalogue (Singapore: CS Philatelic Agency, 2011), 38 (Call no. RSING 769.5695957 SPSC); Wee, Tan and Wang, One for the Birds, 36.
5. J. Gan, “Some Interesting Notes on the Sunbirds,” Wetlands 9, no. 3 (2002), 10 (Call no. RSING 508.5957 SBNP); Morten Strange, A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Malaysia & Singapore: Including Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Borneo (Hong Kong: Periplus, 2000), 354. (Call no. RSING 598.0959 STR)
6. Gan, “Some Interesting Notes on the Sunbirds,” 10.
7. Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, “Cinnyris jugularis.”
8. G. C. Madoc, An Introduction to Malayan Birds (Kuala Lumpur: Malayan Nature, 1947), 207 (Call no. RCLOS 598.29595 MAD-[GBH]); Lim Kim Seng, Birds: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds of Singapore (Singapore: Sun Tree Publishing, 1997), 117. (Call no. RSING 598.095957 LIM)
9. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; M. W. F. Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula (Kuala Lumpur: Longman Malaysia, 1970), 57 (Call no. RSEA 598.29595 TWE); Lim, Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds, 117.
10. Christopher Hails, Birds of Singapore (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2018), 148 (Call no. RSING 598.295957 HAI); Graeme Guy, “Sunbirds of Singapore – from Old World Jungle Jewels to Modern National Symbols,” Nature Watch 10, no. 4 (October–December 2002), 5.
11. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Hails, Birds of Singapore, 148; Lim, Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds, 117; Strange, Photographic Guide to the Birds, 354.
12. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; Strange, Photographic Guide to the Birds, 354; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57; Lim, Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds, 117.
13. Hails, Birds of Singapore, 148; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57; R. J. Spittle, “Nesting Habits of some Singapore Birds,” Bulletin of the Raffles Museum Singapore, Straits Settlements no. 21 (January 1950), 199 (Call no. RCLOS 571.09595 RMSB); Guy,    “Sunbirds of Singapore,” 4.
14. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57.
15. “Nest in Knickers,” Straits Times, 23 March 2012, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
16. Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, “Cinnyris jugularis.”
17. Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57; Wee, Tan and Wang, One for the Birds, 36; Hails, Birds of Singapore, 148.
18. Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57.
19. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57.
20. Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, “Cinnyris jugularis.”
21. Strange, Photographic Guide to the Birds of Malaysia & Singapore, 354.
22. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207.
23. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; Nest in Knickers”; Andrew Tan, “It’s a Bird Perk,” Straits Times, 30 April 2005, 14; Andrew Tan, “Watch the Birdie,” Straits Times, 26 March 2005, 10 (From NewspaperSG); Lim, Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds, 117.
24. Hails, Birds of Singapore, 148.
25. Tan, “It’s a Bird Perk.” 
26. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57; Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, “Cinnyris jugularis.”
27. Gan, “Some Interesting Notes on the Sunbirds,” 6; Wells, Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, 636–37.
28. Hails, Birds of Singapore, 148; Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Guy, “Sunbirds of Singapore,” 6; Clive Briffett, The Birds of Singapore (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1993), 69. (Call no. RSING 598.295757 BRI)
29. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; Gan, “Some Interesting Notes on the Sunbirds,” 10.
30. Bertram E. Smythies, The Birds of Borneo (Kuala Lumpur: Sabah Society, 1981), 391. (Call no. RSEA 598.295983 SMY); Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207.
31. Tan, “It’s a Bird Perk.” 
32. Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, “Cinnyris jugularis.”
33. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150.
34. Gan, “Some Interesting Notes on the Sunbirds,” 10.
35. Hails, Birds of Singapore, 148; Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; Wee, Tan and Wang, One for the Birds, 36.
36. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Hails, Birds of Singapore, 148; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57.
37. Lim Kim Seng, “Pocket Checklist of the Birds of the Republic of Singapore,” accessed 28 August 2019; Lim Kim Seng, Pocket Checklist of the Birds of the Republic of Singapore, 1999; Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; Briffett, Birds of Singapore, 69; Lim Kim Seng and Jimmy Chew, A Field Guide to the Birds of Singapore (Singapore: Nature Society, 2010), 17. (Call no. RSING 598.095957 LIM)
38. Tan, “Watch the Birdie”; Tan, “It’s a Bird Perk”; Elizabeth M.E. Glenister, The Birds of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Penang (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1971), 234. (Call no. RSING 598.29595 GLE-[RFL])
39. Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207.
40. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150; Madoc, Introduction to Malayan Birds, 207; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 57.
41. Wells, Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, 634.
42. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore, 150.



Further resource
Craig Robson, Birds of South-East Asia, 2nd ed (London, Christopher Helm, 2015), 420. (Call no. RSING 598.0959 ROB)



The information in this article is valid as at August 2019 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

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