We don’t have hummingbirds in Singapore :(

Hummingbirds and their ancestors never made it down to this side of the world. So then, what do we have instead?

I love hummingbirds. Many other people do, too!

Image credit: Ivan Phillipsen. The Buff-winged Starfrontlet is a type of hummingbird, and is one of about 345 hummingbird species on the planet. Each is a specialised product of a long evolutionary history.

But they’re only found naturally in the western hemisphere of the world, in an area called ‘the Americas’. So that means you won't find hummingbirds in the wild in China, India, Australia, or Europe. :(

The ancestral species of modern hummingbirds began in South America, and they never made their way down here to Singapore (perhaps it was too arduous a journey for their tiny little wings!)

Hummingbirds drink nectar from flowers, and without them here in Asia, the flowers here stayed full of nectar, and overripe, right…?

Wrong!

A new species of bird evolved to take advantage of all the untouched nectar within the flowers. And today, instead of having hummingbirds here in Asia, we have another version: the sunbird!

Image credit: eBird. This is a Brown-throated Sunbird - which looks incredibly similar to a hummingbird! :D

You’d be forgiven for mistaking these tiny sunbirds for hummingbirds: they look virtually the same, with the same size and shape, and similar colours. They also share the same diet. One major difference is that sunbirds feed while perching and hummingbirds usually feed while hovering.

However, the birds are not closely related at all! Sunbirds are songbirds, while hummingbirds are akin to swifts.

The similarities in the way they look, eat and behave is all thanks to a process called ‘convergent evolution’.

What’s that?

When used to describe two lines, the word ‘converge’ refers to the point when the two lines meet (even if they started from very different points).

In evolutionary biology, ‘convergent evolution’ refers to how different animal may have started differently, but eventually evolved to have very similar traits, and therefore occupy the same niche in nature.

For example, sharks and dolphins are not related at all - in fact, a shark is a fish, while a dolphin is a mammal. Yet the two animals are roughly the same size, shape, and colour. They also occupy the same role in the ecosystem: as apex predators of the ocean.

• The niche: be apex predators of the ocean

• The need: be fast and powerful enough to catch lots of fish

• The traits: a sleek, streamlined body. Sturdy dorsal fins to cut through water. Powerful pectoral fins and tails to propel their bodies forward

Thus, although these two animals came from very different ancestors, they’ve evolved to have similar traits, in order to fulfil similar needs.

Convergent evolution happens because animals have adapted similar traits, for similar necessities.

The reason they look and behave similarly is due to their nectar-feeding lifestyle. Flowers are small, and the branches that present them are usually thin, and weak. The nectar is usually located somewhat ‘deep’ behind flower petals, too. So, both hummingbirds and sunbirds have evolved to be small and lightweight, with long beaks!

However, Sunbird, like Hummingbirds, feed primarily on nectar - but they do so while perching on the flowers, rather than hovering like hummingbirds.

This means that sunbirds have to be much more precise in their movements, as they need to use their claws to cling to the flower while they feed. Sunbirds also supplement their diet with insects and spiders, which they catch by hawking from the air or picking them off foliage.

Image credit: Francis Yap Nature Photography. Can you tell if this a hummingbird or a sunbird? (It’s actually a Crimson Sunbird!)

I can’t say why exactly the two types of birds are both so colourful, though.

But generally, colours and patterns are used to attract mates, and help birds identify their own species. Colours can also help birds hide from predators by camouflaging them.

So maybe that’s why hummingbirds and sunbirds can afford to be so colourful - since they’re always around flowers, they’re not in any particular danger if they themselves are just as brightly coloured as flowers!

And since hummingbirds and sunbirds live in similar habitats, perhaps they’ve evolved to have similar colours to help keep them blend in with the flowers?

So, just to recap, hummingbirds and sunbirds have convergently evolved to fit:

• The same niche: be nectar-feeders

• The same needs: be tiny enough to feed on flowers without breaking branches, and have long bills to get to the sources of nectar deep within flowers

• The same traits: a small, lightweight body with long bills. Be able to camouflage within their similarly colourful habitats

So… that’s the rundown on why we don’t have hummingbirds in Singapore, and why we have sunbirds instead.

I’ll be publishing a whole month’s worth of hummingbird-related content, so stay tuned for more! :D And please ‘share’ my blog on your social media if you want to make me smile. <3