"Stop Eating My Rice!" A Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) stealing rice from chickens. A very common bird in the Philippines, Europe, and the rest of Asia. This bird is often wrongly identified as a "maya". This bird is not native to the Philippines and has never been a national bird. Of interesting note, Chairman Mao Zedong of China attempted in April 1958 to reduce crop damage by Tree Sparrows, by placing scarecrows and mobilizing 3 million people. He underestimated the amount of insects and locusts these sparrows ate and the campaign against the sparrows extended a famine that killed 30 million Chinese people between 1959 and 1961. The lesson that was learned? Don't kill sparrows.
An olive-backed sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) drinks nectar from this sliced coconut flower. In the Philippines and parts of Asia, the nectar is collected and used for palm wine. It also attracts these small songbirds.
Olive-backed Sunbirds (Cinnyris jugularis) fight for dominance on this coconut tree. The nectar that comes from the coconut flower is very sweet and is collected for palm wine.
