Adults have bright red bills and a yellowish-white ring around their eyes. Their backs are dull olive green, and they have a bright yellow-orange throat with a yellow chin; females are somewhat duller than males, and juveniles have black bills. As far as I can tell, this makes these birds adults, and probably males.
I'm no real fan of artificial reflection pools, but I have to say tI am pleased with the pictures that contain the reflections.
The Red-Billed Leiothrix is 14–15.5 cm long, and is considered to be a very good singer. Its ability to sing has made it a popular cage bird, and it can be found in number of places outside of its natural range. The species has been released in a number of places, including Western Australia (where it dod not establish a breeding population) and a cluster of sightings in the south of the UK suggest it may have become established in that country - although I can find no reports of this species in the UK after the early 2000s.
In the picture above you can (just about) see that the tail feathers of this species curve outward ear the tip. At least one source considers this 'peculiar'.
This bird is known to be rather secretive and difficult to see - so I'm rather pleased with these pictures.
As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below. Cheers. SM
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