Earlier this year a bird appeared in Lim Shiang Han’s home. Perching in front of the balcony, it serenaded on and on. The next day it returned and again it serenaded. This went on for almost a month.
The bird appeared like a sunbird but Shiang Han was not convinced that it was – as it “looks like a sunbird, but its beak is shorter and not as sharp. Also I have never heard sunbirds singing this way.”
As curiosity about the identity of the songster got the better of them, Shiang Han’s mother, Lim Mei Hsiang, made a video of the serenading bird and sent it to BESG requesting for someone to identify it (below).
Wildlife consultant Subaraj Rajathurai identified the bird as a Golden-bellied Gerygone (Gerygone sulphurea), adding that “It is a common wayside and parkland resident species of the tree-tops. It is rather unusual that it is singing in your balcony.”
When Shiang Han further wrote that the bird regularly attempted to fly onto the glass pane of the nearby window, Subaraj immediately informed her that the gerygone was actually serenading to her reflection in the glass, possibly believing it to be a potential mate. As such, Subaraj suggested that something needed to be done “about the reflective aspect of the glass before the bird accidentally breaks its neck.”
Happily the bird did not break its neck and after more than a month stopped visiting.
Lim Shiang Han, Lim Mei Hsiang & Subaraj Rajathurai
Singapore
October 2014
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