Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird in eclipse plumage

Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird Aethopyga gouldiae was seen on twelve occasions all in the Doi Inthanon National Park and ten of the sightings were on this day. The adult male Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird Aethopyga gouldiae is an incredibly beautiful bird in full breeding plumage. This bird however is in eclipse or non-breeding plumage described in the field guide as having similar plumage to a female bird but with red on the breast and yellow on the belly in the subspecies A. g. dabryii. A brief internet search revealed that there are few photos of the species in this plumage. The bird was at the highest elevation in the Park at 2,565 metres next to the car park, the main road and the many visitor facilities.

Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, India mainly the Himalayas, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It forages at all levels from bushes up to the canopy, feeding on rhododendron and other flowering shrubs and trees.

References: Wikipedia; Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and Inskipp, T. (1998) Birds of the Indian Subcontinent, page 804, Christopher Helm (Publishers) Ltd.