The Crimson Sunbird (seen above with a sad face), suddenly found itself demoted to an unofficial national bird status two days after it was suddenly and fortuitously bestowed the title of National Bird of Singapore on Oct. 31, 2015.

This was after the Nature Society clarified that they were naming the Crimson Sunbird, known as Aethopyga siparaja, the official national bird of Singapore only because they wanted to reserve the bird -- in typical Singaporean fashion -- before any other country acquired it as their own national bird.

However, also in typical Singaporean fashion, no government body is on hand to readily give the bird its official status because they have other things to attend to, such as the economy.

As per The Straits Times, Nov. 2, 2015:

But just when its status had seemingly been made official - along with that of the Common Rose butterfly - there was another twist.

Mr Anuj Jain, the chair of the society's butterfly and insect group, indicated to The Straits Times on Monday, that the "official" status wasn't quite, well, official just yet.

ST understands that Nature Society has contacted three government departments to get the bird and the butterfly some sort of official standing, but it is still not clear on who will rule on the matter.

In contrast, the Vanda Miss Joaquim has been Singapore's official national flower since 1981, approved by the then-Ministry of Culture.

Simply put: The whole initial confusion stemmed from a blog post titled, "Crimson Sunbird is now the official National Bird of Singapore", where the Nature Society said the selection had been made official and publicly announced by Dr Shawn Lum, president of the Nature Society, at a dinner held in conjunction with the 6th Asian Bird Fair on Saturday.

The 2015 Asian Bird Fair, which was attended by more than 20 nature clubs and held in Singapore for the first time, was a two-day festival for bird watchers and nature lovers.

But what really happened was that Dr Lum had shared at a fellowship dinner that the Nature Society has "written in" to make both statuses of the crimson sunbird and common rose official because they thought the fair would be a good opportunity to make the announcement.

The red-breasted bird has been unofficially touted as Singapore's national bird since 2002, after it topped a poll on the topic organised by Nature Society.

The Common Rose, a butterfly, was also declared the national butterfly of Singapore after it was chosen by the public in a poll organised by the Nature Society in 2015.

Alan OwYong, vice-chair of the Nature Society's bird group, also said making the announcement at the fair was to "claim it first" before others from the region laid claim to the bird, which can be found in southern Asia and Indonesia.

But it was not an official declaration.

As of Monday, the word "official" has been dropped from the title of the blog post by the Nature Society's bird group.

Cheer up now, little birdie, your day will come. Scoot along now and binge eat all the nectar to get over your loss.

Related article:

Crimson Sunbird suddenly declared National Bird of S’pore on Oct. 31, 2015

Top photo of sad Crimson Sunbird via

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