Blue-winged Leafbird

In the next few blog posts, I will be talking about some cool birds that I saw. This particular post I will be sharing about the Blue-winged Leafbird. This bird is very attractive, it has a green back, crown, a yellow belly and breast, a blue-tipped wing, and a black throat. This Leafbird is usually found in broadleaf forests. It is related to fairy-bluebirds, birds I also saw in Malaysia. The Blue-winged Leafbirds are omnivores, mainly consuming insects and arthropods, and the occasional fruit. Besides that it is presumed to consume nectar as well. Leafbirds are interesting because they are one of the few birds that evolved in South-east Asia, and later spread to the himalayas and other parts of Asia.

I saw this bird on the second day in Kubah, around noon. It was before the pavilion where we were going to head back. There was a lot of commotion, and all sorts of different birds started to show up, Fulvettas, Orioles, Drongos and of course, two Blue-winged Leafbirds. It was me that spotted it, as everyone's attention was diverted by various birds. I was very excited, because I had read about Leafbirds previously and thought they were very interesting, thus I wanted to see an actual one, and my dream was fulfilled. I wanted to have a picture to remember this happy moment, but it took me quite a while to successfully get the leafbird in the viewfinder, because it simply looked too similar to the surrounding leaves! Even when you look at the picture, it takes a minute to find where the actual bird is. Sadly because of it’s attractiveness, this Blue-winged Leafbird is threatened by the pet trade. I hope that the importance of the conservation of this species will be recognized by the local governments, so that people will still be able to enjoy this bird in the future.

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