“Another quick observation. At Pulau Ubin’s mangroves near the sensory trail, I found a small Lumnitzera littorea in bloom. The deep red of the flowers stood out clearly against the succulent green background and probably helped to draw a number of sunbirds to the tree. Species sighted included: Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis), Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis) and Purple-throated Sunbird (Leptocoma sperata). This female (brown-throated I think) (above) spent about a minute probing in the blooms before heading deeper into the mangroves while other sunbirds arrived to take their turn at a sip.”
Marcus Ng
The Annotated Budak
13th April 2009
Note: Lumnitzera littorea is known as teruntum merah in Malay. This is a small tree with bright red flowers (=merah) usually found towards the landward side of mangroves. This is a rather rare mangrove plant in Singapore
Subaraj
The female sunbird in the photo looks like a Copper- throated Sunbird, based on colouration, features and structure. This is a true mangrove species and the area mentioned has 1-2 pairs that occur.