Bird Watch - Purple Rumped Sunbird nesting

Happiness is, sitting in your room, beside the window with the camera in hand, in absolute silence, and watching a bird build its nest. Well, I'm a happy person! I got to watch a sunbird build its nest bit by bit. 

Sunbirds are the distant Indian cousins of Humming birds (scientifically their family, genus etc are 'not' the same). Sized almost to that of humming birds, they too have a slightly curved beak though not as long as humming birds. What makes them alike is their behavior to hover beside a flower to drink its nectar. 
While I've seen way too many sunbirds around, this was the first time, a fella or the lady decided to build its home in my home!
This variety of sunbird is called the Purple Rumped Sunbird. The nest looks like a mess, a dump. The nest is built by the female, so the images you see here are of the female. She's brownish green in color with light yellow breast. 

The head is taupe for the female while its a glistening wine colored for the male. The male doesn't do any help at all in nest building than just flying beside the female!!! The last pic is of the 'shy' male hidden in the greenery!

Edit 4-Nov-2015:
Someone had a comment on a facebook group, very concerned, discouraging nesting photographs, as that would be intruding the privacy of the birds. I had taken these photographs from inside my house through the window, with my camera lens at 250mm zoom level, in no way intruding the privacy of the bird. Infact I chose not even take the side walkway, or close/open the window, just so that I don't disturb them. 
The concern was genuine. As much as these pics look adorable, I too share the concern and I too discourage anyone from trying to take similar nesting photographs in a way that would disturb the birds, as nesting is very similar to maternity in a woman!!! As long as you're faaaaar away from the nest, shoot with your camera, observe and enjoy the magic of nature!!!!!

Bhushavali

An ardent traveler by passion. Being an ex - Art History Teacher, my area of interest especially lies in Nature and Heritage. Visited 85 UNESCO World Heritage sites as of June 2022. I've been listed among the Top 7 Women Travel Bloggers of India, Top 50 in UK. I have been interviewed in a couple of TV Shows, Radio Channels and Events as well. Read more about me and read the testimonials of different brands

5 comments:

  1. I'm happy to know about a bird named Sunbird. I was not aware about the existence of such a bird. The attractiveness of this bird can be seen through the great shots. Thanks a lot for sharing the post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad I could introduce this beautiful bird to you! :)
      Thanks so much for the time you took to read and comment! :)

      Delete

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