ID please - a honeyeater?

[greentreephrog]

The attached photo was taken in the San Pablo, Laguna area last Christmas.

From my Australian experience I would identify the bird as a type of honeyeater - quite common in Oz, many varieties which all feed on nectar, thus the common name 'honeyeater'.

BUT - I read in Wikipedia that honeyeaters are largely Australian, so maybe I am wrong. Can anyone identify? The beak appears to be adapted to feeding from flowers. And don't be fooled by the apparent short tail feathers - they were quite a bit longer than appears in the photo - they are behind the leaf.

[Neon Rosell II]

Hi greentreephrog, welcome to the forum! It would be nice if you could change your handle to your real name as we all have here.

Yes, honeyeaters are endemic to Australia, what we have here in the Philippines that has the same characteristics are the "Sunbirds".

What you have here is a male Olive-backed Sunbird (Cynniris jugularis)

The female has no blue patch, here's a reference photo.


It would also be easier for others to view your photo is you put it in one of the hosting sites like flickr, pbase, etc. and just link it here.

Cheers!