We had this unexpected little visitor in office this morning at around 0940h. One of our nice cleaning aunties walked into the office carrying a plastic bag looking a little worried. Why was that so? She found this really gorgeously coloured small bird outside, but it wasn't moving, even kept still when she picked it up. Thinking it was a baby bird that didn't know how to fly and fell out its nest, she brought it over to us to ask for help....
At first, we were wondering if was actually alive, and that was settled when CCL picked it out of the bag. This feisty little bird is definitely alive! (Is is possible that it was just sitting there waiting for the sun to come and warm/wake it up? Pretty unlikely, given that birds are warm blooded) GD came along to tell us it is an adult oriental dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca). It belongs to the family of Alcedininae kingfishers whose members are all rather small (like the African pygmy kingfisher) with iridescent feathers. Apparently one of the rarer kingfishers that we can see around Singapore, so it was really a treat for us to see one at close proximity and take photos (albeit in a less natural environment). As the thrill of having such a gorgeously colorful guest around wore off a little, I made a quick dash for a camera to snap a few shots before letting it go...
Brilliant pose, lousy focusing
Not as nice a pose but at least it's in focus. Look how tiny the feet are!!
View from the back, showing off all those nice shimmery bluish-violet feathers *swoons*
Close up of head. Especially love those purplish feathers about the eyes. Really looks like it has eyebrows!
Getting a taste of CCL's finger
Apparently not getting enough of a taste... Definitely one disgruntled bird. REALLY time to let it go~~
And off it went, flying fast and far away from us meddling humans....
===========
The colouring even looks exactly like the one shown in this article by Dr Cheong Loong Fah!!
More useful sites:
Kingfishers
BESG
At first, we were wondering if was actually alive, and that was settled when CCL picked it out of the bag. This feisty little bird is definitely alive! (Is is possible that it was just sitting there waiting for the sun to come and warm/wake it up? Pretty unlikely, given that birds are warm blooded) GD came along to tell us it is an adult oriental dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca). It belongs to the family of Alcedininae kingfishers whose members are all rather small (like the African pygmy kingfisher) with iridescent feathers. Apparently one of the rarer kingfishers that we can see around Singapore, so it was really a treat for us to see one at close proximity and take photos (albeit in a less natural environment). As the thrill of having such a gorgeously colorful guest around wore off a little, I made a quick dash for a camera to snap a few shots before letting it go...
Brilliant pose, lousy focusing
Not as nice a pose but at least it's in focus. Look how tiny the feet are!!
View from the back, showing off all those nice shimmery bluish-violet feathers *swoons*
Close up of head. Especially love those purplish feathers about the eyes. Really looks like it has eyebrows!
Getting a taste of CCL's finger
Apparently not getting enough of a taste... Definitely one disgruntled bird. REALLY time to let it go~~
And off it went, flying fast and far away from us meddling humans....
===========
The colouring even looks exactly like the one shown in this article by Dr Cheong Loong Fah!!
More useful sites:
Kingfishers
BESG
2 comments:
wow! what a stunning and beautiful bird.
it looks so kawaii! especially the
i'm-hungry-let's-bite-fingers photos...
thanks for showing it to us!
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