Ruby-cheeked Sunbird

This male Ruby-cheeked Sunbird Chalcoparia singalensis was perched high up on a branch and was one of only three birds of this species which we saw during our time in Thailand and surprisingly, the only sunbird which we saw on this particular day. The most obvious features which are visible in the photo are the short bill, more like a Flowerpecker than a Sunbird, a yellow orange throat and the rest of the underparts yellow.

It favours evergreen biotype: open forest, forest clearings, edges and tracks, scrub jungle and mangroves.

Reference: Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (1998), Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd., p.801.

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird has a wide range which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Reference: Wikipedia