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

Election of national bird was held in 2002.

Belmont Lay| November 02, 02:01 AM

According to this Nov. 1, 2015, blog post by the Nature Society's Singapore Bird Group: The Crimson Sunbird, Aethopyga siparaja, (pictured above) has been declared the National Bird of Singapore on Oct. 31, 2015.

This came to pass after the declaration was made by Dr. Shawn Lum, who is the President of the Nature Society (Singapore) at the 6th Asian Bird Fair Fellowship Dinner at the Quality Hotel Marlow.

However, what sounds kind of strange is the time it took to declare this birdie the winner.

As per the same blog post, the Crimson Sunbird had apparently emerged tops after it was declared winner of most public votes in a poll that was conducted in 2002:

On 25th May 2002, the public was invited to vote for the National Bird of Singapore at the Nature Society (Singapore) 1st Nature Day at Parco Bugis Junction. Out of a total of 1,038 persons who voted at the 3 days event, the Crimson Sunbird came up tops with 400 votes (38%). The White-bellied Sea-eagle was second with 236 votes, Black-naped Oriole with 200 , Olive-backed Sunbird with 157 and the Greater-Racket-tailed Drongo with 45 votes.

Besides belatedly declaring the bird a national bird, Dr. Lum, who is vested with some sort of power to declare this thing and that thing as national emblems, also took the opportunity to announce the Common Rose as the National Butterfly of Singapore.

common-rose-butterfly-nature-society-singapore Common Rose photo via Singapore Bird Group

 

Eh, great.

And according to this other blog post from Aug. 2014, mention was already made about the Crimson Sunbird winning the 2002 poll to become the "unofficial" bird of Singapore.

But no mention was made of how it went from "unofficial" to "official" though, even as the unofficial nature of the bird's national status made it into a book.

Except that what is well-known is that the bird is a widespread species found in areas that span tropical southern Asia to Indonesia.

The adult male is a brightly coloured bird, with a crimson head, mantle and upper breast, hence, its common English name.

There is another equally important connection to Singapore, though. The first person to collect, describe and publish on this species in a journal is Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. He did so in 1822, while stationed in Bencoolen (now Bengkulu, Sumatra).

The scientific species level name is siparaja, probably derived from the name of the bird in the Malay language, which is Kelicap Sepah Raja.

The sunbird is considered a common resident breeder found in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Central Catchment Nature Reserve and Bukit Batok Nature Reserve.

In the past, they can be spotted at Mandai Orchid Garden, but the place has since been closed down.

Most of these birds feed on nectar. They use their thin downward curving bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues to pierce at the base near the nectaries for feeding. They also supplement their diet with small insects when feeding young.

At least we can now say 38 percent voted for this 13 years ago.

 

Top photo of Crimson Sunbird via Singapore Bird Group

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