Juvy sunbird

It must be the same, a matter of weeks and you sure have further moulted, lovely by the weeks - the juvenile Brown-throated Sunbird caught in moulting transition, same location, same noise, it must be the same!

Almost three weeks later.

When the birds come a-calling

 Sometimes I could be walking for a couple of hours in the taman without a memorable click and I count it fortunate on an occasion like this when I encountered such vibrant presence and activities.  So in the absence of foreign visitors I was more than happy to be entertained by these residents.

An immature Brown-throated Sunbird allowed some seconds of clicks.

Walking further on, this Large Woodshrike literally landed right above me that I had to back-step to get at it.

Crossing to the other side of the taman, this young Racket-tailed Drongo was waiting at the edge of the field before it flew off upon my approach.

Attracted by the calls of the Lineated Barbets I hurried along and barely made out a family foraging.

The presence of the sub-adult was only discernible when it broke away to flex and feed.

Moulting Sunbird

It's always interesting to come across a moulting sub-adult Brown-throated Sunbird.  It was not as active as the adult yet, thus it was easy to spot because of its incessant calls.  However, it did fly off immediately as any Sunbird would when it sensed the camera on it.

Mini wave

A mini wave of female and juvenile Brown-throated Sunbirds descended together on a tree and started to feed.  A closer look revealed the birds pulling out and feeding on worms found in between buds and leaves.  It was fascinating that the birds went on a feeding frenzy and it was all over in a couple of minutes, following which not a single bird was to be seen or heard.  
     And equally captivating were the acrobatic acts of the birds as they fed.

 

And then came the inevitable preening, and seen here is a juvenile male at its best!

All about a JuveSunbird

All about Sunbird but one has to be fast enough to spot it or snap it.  Again there are ample opportunities to do so in the taman as there are comparatively more sunbirds here, especially the Brown-throated Sunbird.

Juvenile male 

Caught one preening in the early afternoon.

Lesson in the taman

The taman gives me ample opportunities to learn how to identify bird gender, adult and immature.  One can indeed do so in any taman but because of the types of trees here, one can spot quite quickly the bird and bird type.  It's also because it is relatively easy to know where the birds like to 'hang out', like this Brown-throated Sunbird.

Female

 

Male

Sub-adult female

An encounter, missed

While the adult Brown-throated Sunbird was busy foraging, the call of another sunbird drew me to try and spot it, also find out why the desperate continuous call.  It turned out to be a juvenile.  As I was too engrossed trying to spot it I missed the presence of the juvenile Crested Goshawk (which flew to another branch upon my approach) which was perched right opposite the juvy Sunbird, giving the impression it was ready to pounce on the smaller one at any time, until the adult Sunbird flew in and flew away with its juvy.
    This is what I call a birder's luck!  That missed opportunity to capture the Goshawk at eye level, which would have been a rare treat, and facing what could be a prey!