The ornate sunbird is found in mainland Southeast Asia and the following Indonesian islands: Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Lesser Sunda Islands. I saw an ornate sunbird in Singapore at the Botanical Gardens. There are eight subspecies and I saw the nominate subspecies, Cinnyris ornatus ornatus, which is found in the central and southern Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali and the Lesser Sunda Islands, except Sumba and Timor.
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| The sun was not right to catch the iridescence on the throat. |
The ornate sunbird is 3.9 to 4.5 inches in length and is sexually dimorphic. The male, which I saw, has olive upperparts, yellow underparts, the throat, side of neck and breast are blue-black iridescent, the bill and legs are black, the iris is dark brown and it has a black tail with white tip. The female lacks the iridescent throat and has a yellow supercilium.
A bird to put on your list of "I need a better photo" birds. I'm sure you'll get one.
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