At first, it was thought that only one bird had fallen injured onto the mud below the bushes. It was difficult to see the two birds seemingly inextricably stuck to each other as they lay almost motionless on the mud. Less than 5 minutes before, some of the others in the group had seen a small crocodile resting in the shallow water just a few feet away from the spot where the birds now lay.
When it became apparent to all that we were actually looking at two birds, it was assumed that this was part of some elaborate hitherto unknown mating ritual. We were all very surprised that the sunbirds would risk their lives getting 'down and dirty' right on the mud. What was worse was the position of the two birds .... head to tail and tail to head! This was rough ... really rough! Not for kids!
The birds remained stuck for just over 4 minutes. This is an awful long time to be on the mud....in the midst of monitor lizards and crocodiles! The birds were not making any sounds at all ... no squeaks or pips.
Finally, the birds decided to separate but only after hearing the rustling caused by the volunteers as they tried to get a closer look. From the videoclip, it looks as if one bird had its toes wrapped around the beak of the other just before they separated. Upon separation, the birds immediately broke out in a highly active song as they flew up into the bush. However, almost instantly, they got entangled again and again fell to the mud.... all within 10 seconds of getting untangled. Only this time ... a small Malayan Water Monitor (about 50cm long) sprang to action and caught one of the sunbirds by its wing. I guess the howls of despair from the group managed to cause the lizard to loosen its grip and the bird flew up to the safety of the bushes above leaving the lizard wondering.
Comment : from the clip, it looks like the two birds are females! Both exhibit the yellow breast commonly seen of female birds of this species. The males have a distinct dark blue chest. So it looks like two females having a bird-fight! ...or were they juvenile males which had yet to earn the shiny blue throat? (Can the bird experts viewing the clip please comment on this? Thank you.)
Read more about the olive-backed sunbird here :
i. naturia.per.sg : http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Nectarina_jugularis.htm
ii. wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive-backed_Sunbird
iii. IBC : http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/olive-backed-sunbird-cinnyris-jugularis
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