Catching up with old friends

It's been sometime since I've dropped in at the Singapore Botanic Garden (SBG) but my personal project forced me to sit down and sort through my 4-year wildlife photo collection. It was only then did I realize that I had to re-take a number of subjects as a number of earlier photographs were terrible.

I chose SBG as I knew a number of my subjects could be found there. Stork-billed Kingfishers are the largest kingfishers found in Singapore. Even though they (like other kingfishers) are brightly colored, many would not even know they are there.

Stork-billed Kingfishers will quietly sit under shade gazing intently at the water surface hoping catch a fish off guard. This individual is no different. It will pick a location that is quiet and settle in to hunt. My last encounter with this species of kingfisher at SBG was in 2008 and it is good to know they are still thriving there.

The other subject was the Olive-backed Sunbird, which the opposite of the Stork-billed. It is very small and very active. This little bird proved harder to nail.

I spent three mornings among the heliconia waiting for an Olive-backed Sunbird to come into sight and on a perch that I liked. Finally, got what a keeper after over a hundred shots.

BTW, sunbirds aren't humming birds. You may see them hover and yes they feed on nectar but that is where the similarity ends. Sunbirds are a different species. They are distributed throughout Africa, South Asia and into northern Australia while humming birds are only found in the Americas.