Female / Juvenile Sunbirds - Singapore (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone, looking for some expert advice on sunbird ID.

Attached images are all female (and juvenile?) sunbirds taken in Singapore at Bukit Batok Nature Park and Gardens by the Bay.

I have short listed this to Brown-throated, Purple-throated and Crimson (since males of each species were in the locations at the time), although multiple species were present, adding to the confusion.

Thanks in advance for the advice and expertise,

Regards - Darren

This is a good resource for sunbirds in Singapore.

http://singaporebirds.blogspot.ae/2012/07/sunbirds-spiderhunters.html

Female/eclipse male sunbirds are very difficult, even with only 5 species to choose from, and field guides are useless. Size is a useful feature - Van Hasselt's is absolutely tiny, whereas Copper-throated is relatively large.

Re your pics:

#1 - f Crimson - pink legs, quite bright green, bill mostly orange-yellow
#2 - either Olive-backed or Copper-throated on bill length - probably the latter, as fiddling with the photo produces apparent patches of blue on the crown and wing-bend and suggests some kind of eclipse plumage (see attached)
#3 - looks superficially like f Copper-throated with the combination of grey head, yellow breast and olive upperparts but the bill seems very short?
#4 - Van Hasselt's - very small and short-tailed with yellow base to lower mandible matching the juv.on the Blogspot page

As always, happy to be corrected.

Firstly, Copper-throated sunbird is a mangrove bird, so not found at Bt Batok and Gardens by the Bay. Olive-backed sunbird is a very common and distinctive sunbird, and none of these fit it.
1. Immature Crimson sunbird
2. Female Van Hasselt's sunbird
3. Female Brown-throated sunbird
4. Juvenile Van Hasselt's sunbird

Hi Jiaolang - what kept you? Thanks for the input. Always an education here.

The picture of f Van Hasselt's on the blogspot isn't representative. Now that I've had a look at some images of females on the net (I've attached one), it makes perfect sense.

Re Copper-throated, the blog page misled me by claiming this species has been sighted at Bukit Batok. In other locations they have adapted to urban habitats - for example, in Saigon they can be seen in gardens in quieter parts of the city.

Andrew