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Greater Green Leafbird Chloropsis sonnerati zosterops   - Female feeding
Photographer :	© Amar-Singh HSS
Location :	Burmese Pool Trail (Secondary forest), Taiping, Perak, Malaysia
Date :	30 December 2009
Equipment :	Nikon D90 SLR with Tamron AF Zoom 200-500mm, handheld
Alt. Common Name :	Great Green Leafbird, Greater Leafbird, Malachite-shouldered Leafbird
Bird Family :	Irenidae - Fairy bluebirds & leafbirds
Bird Group :	PASSERIFORMES
Red Data Status :	Unspecified
Remarks :	While watching we spotted a female Greater Green Leafbird fly in and displace one of the Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots Loriculus galgulus from its Rambutan fruit. It then proceeded to take over the Rambutan fruit for its own feeding. We saw this happen with 2 different female Greater Green Leafbirds. We had spotted the male Greater Green Leafbirds earlier on the trail as well as male and female Lesser Green Leafbirds Chloropsis cyanopogon cyanopogon. But neither the male Greater Green Leafbird nor Lesser Green Leafbirds made their presence felt while we were watching the Rambutan feeding. The female Greater Green Leafbirds had great difficulty to gain access to the flesh as the fruit was at the tip of thin branches. As the photos show, it required quite a bit of balancing and contortion to gain access. However the lure of the fruit (again a sweet tooth?) made the effort worthwhile. These observations show that birds may use the activity of another bird to gain access to a food source. I doubt that the Greater Green Leafbird could ever open a Rambutan fruit for itself. - Amar
Taxonomic Notes :

Select images of the species : 1. Greater Green Leafbird >> Female feeding 2. Greater Green Leafbird >> Immature female 3. Greater Green Leafbird >> Immature female 4. Greater Green Leafbird >> Immature female 5. Greater Green Leafbird >> Immature female 6. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 7. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 8. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 9. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 10. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 11. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 12. Greater Green Leafbird >> Juvenile 13. Greater Green Leafbird >> Adult male 14. Greater Green Leafbird >> Subadult male 15. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 16. Greater Green Leafbird >> Female 17. Greater Green Leafbird >> Female 18. Greater Green Leafbird >> Female 19. Greater Green Leafbird >> Adult male 20. Greater Green Leafbird >> Adult male 21. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 22. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 23. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male 24. Greater Green Leafbird >> Female 25. Greater Green Leafbird >> Female 26. Greater Green Leafbird >> Adult male 27. Greater Green Leafbird >> Male