Africa Wild Bird Book

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792. Amethyst Sunbird (formerly known as Black Sunbird) Chalcomitra amethystina (Swartsuikerbekkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Nectariniidae

Amethyst Sunbird.jpg (141.49 KiB) Viewed 2377 times

Description
Size 15 cm.
Adult male: At a distance male appears all black, but at close range, the forecrown is metallic green and the throat, carpal patch and rump are iridescent purple. Otherwise the plumage is jet black (fresh plumage) to brownish black. This species has no eclipse plumage.
Adult female: Upperparts brown, eyebrow pale off-white, and underparts creamy, streaked brown, dusky throat. The illustration in Sasol is a female of the race C. a. kirkii which does not occur in SA, but only in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe etc. The dark throat-patch is absent in the female of this race.
Immature: Similar to the adult female, but with an orange to brown gape; the immature male has a purple throat.
Similar species: The male lacks the scarlet breast of the Scarlet-chested Sunbird. Female could be confused with female Scarlet-chested Sunbird but has paler streaked underparts. Females Scarlet-chested Sunbird are browner and have mottled brown, not streaked, underparts and broad, buffy malar stripes.

Distribution
Mainly occurs in Africa south of the equator, from Kenya and Tanzania through southern DRC and Zambia to southern Africa. Here it is fairly common across Zimbabwe, northern and south-eastern Mozambique and South Africa from Limpopo Province and Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal, extending down the coast to Cape Agulhas. It is also has scattered populations in northern Namibia (including the Caprivi Strip) and northern as well as south-eastern Botswana.

C. a. kirkii: South Sudan, Uganda, w, c Kenya, and s Tanzania to e Zambia, Zimbabwe and c Mozambique
C. a. deminuta: se Gabon and s Congo to sw DR Congo, Angola, c, w Zambia, n Botswana and n Namibia
C. a. amethystina: se Botswana, s Mozambique and South Africa



Habitat
Forest edge, woodland, savanna and suburban gardens.

Diet
It eats nectar supplemented with insects, foraging wherever nectar is available. It often hawks flying insects from the trees or bushes, also gleaning them from leaves and branches. Nectar is obtained either from flowers or from garden feeders, which it uses readily.

Breeding
The nest is built solely by the female, consisting of an oval-shaped structure built of lichen, grass, stalks and bark cemented with spider web. The 3.5-5.5 cm entrance is placed on the side, and the inside is lined with soft plant down and feathers. It is attached strongly to a drooping branch of a tree, bush or creeper usually 2-6 m above ground. Egg-laying season is year round, peaking from September-November in Zimbabwe and October-February in South Africa. It lays 1-3 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for 13-18 days. The chicks are fed mainly by the female, leaving the nest after about 14-18 days, becoming independent after at least 1 week.
Parasitised by Klaas's Cuckoo, African Emerald Cuckoo and Green-backed Honeyguide.

Call
The call is a tschick note in flight, and an alarm call tit-tit-tit. The rather complex song of the Amethyst Sunbird comprises rapid twittering that ascends and descends.
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Chalc ... methystina

Status
Common resident. Not threatened, in fact its range has increased recently due to the spread of wooded gardens.

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792. Amethyst Sunbird Chalcomitra amethystina



© Flutterby
Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal

© Sharifa
Garden in Gauteng

© Sharifa
Garden in Gauteng

© Amoli
Immature

© Amoli
Alberton, Gauteng

© steamtrainfan
Immature male

© Flutterby
Pilanesberg

© BluTuna
Kruger National Park

Links:
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Species text Sabap1: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/792.pdf
Sunbirds: A Guide to the Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters

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791. Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis (Rooiborssuikerbekkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Nectariniidae

Scarlet-chested Sunbird B.jpg (44.59 KiB) Viewed 2374 times

Description
Length 13-15 cm, weight 12-15 g. Males larger than females.
Adult male: Mostly dark, velvety blackish brown, wearing to brownish black. Crown and chin glossy emerald green; throat and breast bright scarlet, feathers with subterminal iridescent violet-blue bars. Bill and gape black. Eyes dark brown. Legs and feet black.
Adult female: Upper parts and sides of face dark olive-brown. Supercilium off-white, extending backwards from just above or behind eye. Upper wings dark brown, flight feathers edged olive-brown. Tertials and greater coverts dark brown, edged pale brown. Primary coverts dark brown, outer webs edged whitish. Alula and outermost lesser coverts fringed whitish. Axillaries and underwing coverts olive-yellow, latter with dark brown bases. Chin and throat dark brown, feathers broadly edged pale brown. Remainder of underparts off-white to yellowish, mottled and streaked dark brown.
Immature male: As adult female, but assumes red throat and breast during first moult. Attains full ad plumage at 11-14 mo. Gape whitish or yellowish, darkening to orange, brown and finally black.
Similar species: Female may be distinguished from female Amethyst Sunbird by very heavily mottled underparts, whitish alula (shoulder edge) and lack of pale eyebrow.

Distribution
Occurs across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal to Eritrea, absent from the lowland forest of central DRC, south to southern Africa. Here it is common in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, eastern South Africa and Swaziland, but scarce further west in northern Botswana and Namibia.

Habitat
It generally prefers mixed open savanna woodland, especially fragmented miombo (Brachystegia) woodland, thornveld and coastal scrub. It has adapted well to the changes of habitat caused by humans, as it is common in parks and well-wooded gardens.

Diet
It eats nectar and arthropods, hawking insects aerially or plucking prey from the ground.

Breeding
Monogamous solitary nester. The nest is built solely by the female in about 3-6 days, consisting of a thick-walled, pear-shaped oval structure built of dry grass, weed stems, dead leaves and bark bound together with spider web, with a side entrance covered by a small hood of dried grass inflorescences. The exterior is often decorated with lichen and dead leaves, while the interior is usually lined with hair, plant down and feathers. It is typically securely attached to a branch of a leafy tree, often near an active wasps nest, water body and/or a building. Egg-laying season is year round, peaking from October-January. The female lays 1-3 cream, greenish or pinkish eggs with darker markings, which she incubates alone for 13-15 days. The chicks are fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 15-20 days, after which they remain dependent on their parents for 8 weeks longer.
Common host to Klaas's Cuckoo, and possibly Diderick Cuckoo.

Call
Loud arid penetrating tip, teeu notes, also fast syip-syip-syip. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident with sedentary, locally migratory or highly nomadic populations.

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791. Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis (Rooiborssuikerbekkie)

© Flutterby
Male

© Flutterby
Male

© Flutterby
Female

© Heksie
Female

© Flutterby
Juvenile

© Pumbaa

© Pumbaa
Male

Links:
Species Text Sabap1
Sabap2

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775. Malachite Sunbird Nectarinia famosa (Jangroentjie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Nectariniidae

Description
25 cm long, and the shorter-tailed female 15 cm. Large long-billed Sunbird.
Breeding male: Metallic green when breeding, with black-green wings, small yellow pectoral patches. In non-breeding plumage, the male’s upperparts are brown apart from the green wings and tail, the latter retaining the elongated feathers.
Non-breeding male: The underparts in eclipse plumage are yellow, flecked with green. The male is similar to the males of the various double-collared sunbirds, but has a dark belly and a wine-red breastband.
The female has brown upperparts and dull yellow underparts with some indistinct streaking on the breast. The female has ashorter tail than the male. The tail is square-ended, olive-black with white-tipped and edged outer rectrices. The head is brownish with pale yellow malar stripe and narrow white eyebrow. Told from other female Sunbird specied by the long, robust, decurved bill.
The juvenile resembles the female.

Distribution
It is discontinuous across East Africa, with a separate and larger population in southern Africa. Here it occurs along the West coast of South Africa bordering on Namibia, extending east through the Eastern Cape and Lesotho to KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Limpopo Province. It also occupies Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands, bordering on Mozambique.

Habitat
It occurs in a variety of habitats, ranging from alpine and montane grasslands to scrubby hillsides in mountainous areas, as well as in arid steppes of Namaqualand, riverine thornbush, gardens, parks and alien plantations.

Diet
Its diet is mainly made up of nectar supplemented with small arthropods. It usually forages singly or in pairs, but it may aggregate in groups of over 100 at localised food sources (e.g. large clumps of flowering Aloe).

Breeding
It is a monogamous, territorial solitary nester, with pair bonds only lasting for the duration of the breeding season. A breeding pairs territory can be as small as 800 m squared and usually contains large clumps of flowering plants. The male is hardly present during the whole breeding process, occasionally bringing food to the female or chicks. The nest is constructed solely by the female, and is a teardrop-shaped construction built of dry grass and plant down bound with spider web. It usually placed in a low bush 1-2 m above ground. Egg-laying season peaks from September-December. It lays 1-4 dark-blotched greenish eggs which are incubated solely by the female for about 12-14 days. The chicks are cared for mainly the female, staying in the nest for about 13-17 days, becoming independent up to 24 days later.

Call
The call is a loud tseep-tseep. Listen to Bird Call

Status
Common resident.

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775. Malachite Sunbird Nectarinia famosa

© nan
Breeding male

© Dindingwe
Cederberg Wilderness Area (Western Cape)

© Sharifa
Non-breeding male

© Sharifa
Non-breeding male, feeding on Protea caffra caffra

© Michele Nel
Female

© nan
Male

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/spp_summary.ph ... &section=3
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-malac ... nbird.html

[Flutterby]

783. Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Lesser Double-collard Sunbird) Cinnyris chalybeus, formerly Nectarinia chalybea (Klein-rooiborssuikerbekkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Nectariniidae

Cinnyris chalybeus.jpg (66.28 KiB) Viewed 2472 times

Description
Size 12 cm. As with other sunbirds the bill is long and decurved. The bill, legs and feet are black. The eye is dark brown.
The male has a brilliant glossy, metallic green head, throat upper breast and back. A narrow metallic blue band separates the green of the upper breast from a wider red breast band below which the breast and belly are off-white. When displaying bright yellow pectoral tufts can be seen on the shoulders. Male is very similar to but smaller than the Greater Double-collared Sunbird, and has a shorter bill and a narrower red breast band. This species is smaller.
The female is brownish grey above with yellowish-grey underparts. The female is greyer below than the female Orange-breasted Sunbird, and darker below than the female Dusky Sunbird.

Distribution
Endemic to southern Africa, occurring from the far south of Namibia to South Africa, with the bulk of its population centered around the Western Cape extending east and north to KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province.



Habitat
Fynbos and Karoo shrubland, woodland, Afromontane forest, gardens and Eucalyptus plantations.

Diet
It mainly feeds on nectar, supplemented with athropods, gleaning prey from vegetation and spider webs and hawking insects aerially.

Breeding
The nest is built solely by the female in about 25-30 days and the closed oval nest is constructed from grass, lichen and other plant material, bound together with spider webs. It has a side entrance which sometimes has a porch, and is lined with wool, plant down and feathers. It is typically attached to a branch or incorporated into the foliage of a bush or tree. Egg-laying season is almost year-round, peaking from July-September. It lays 1-3 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 13-16 days. The chicks are fed by both adults, leaving the nest after about 15-19 days, after which they continue to roost in the nest for about a week. The parents feed them until they are about 42-46 days old, at which point the young become fully independent.

Call
The call is a hard chee-chee, and the song is high pitched jumble of tinkling notes, rising and falling in pitch and tempo for 3–5 seconds or more.
Listen to Bird Call: http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Cinnyris-chalybeus

Status
Endemic; locally common resident.


Male

[Flutterby]

783. Southern Double-collared Sunbird Cinnyris chalybeus (Klein-rooiborssuikerbekkie)

© Michele Nel
Kirstenbosch

© Michele Nel
Male

© nan
Male

© Tina
Male, Kirstenbosch

© Tina
Female, Kirstenbosch

© Michele Nel
Female

© Michele Nel
Juvenile

© okie

© okie

Links:
Species Text Sabap1
Sabap2
What's That Bird?: A Starter's Guide to Birds of Southern Africa. Kenneth Newman

[Flutterby]

786. Variable Sunbird Cinnyris venustus (Geelpenssuikerbekkie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Nectariniidae

Variable Sunbird.jpg (31.5 KiB) Viewed 2294 times

Description
10cm, 7g
The adult male has a glossy green head, throat and nape, and a maroon breast band. In most subspecies, the belly of the male is yellow, but in a few it is orange or white. The female has grey-brown upperparts and yellowish underparts, and an obvious pale supercilium. The eclipse male is like the female, but shows some green, especially on the throat (eclipse plumage is the dull plumage developed in some brightly colored birds after the breeding season). Juvenile is like the female with an orange gape.

Distribution
It has two separate populations in sub-Saharan Africa, one in West Africa and the other extending from Eritrea, through Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania to southern Africa. Here it is uncommon to locally common in central Mozambique and the eastern half of Zimbabwe.



Habitat
Prefers moist habitats with dense undergrowth, such as Burkea savanna, miombo (Brachystegia) woodland, herbaceous scrub on highlands and along rivers, edges of evergeen forest, sheltered valleys cut into hillsides and Protea-strewn hills.

Diet
It eats nectar supplemented with arthropods, gleaning prey from plant stems and leaves and hawking insects aerially.

Breeding
The nest is built mainly by the female in about 10-20 days, consisting of an oval-shaped structure made of fine grass stems and blades, sometimes along with dry reeds, fibres, rootlets, withered leaves and flower heads bound together with spider web. A circular entrance hole is position on the side-top of the nest, sometimes with a "porch" of stiff grass stems protruding beneath it. It is often camouflaged with large bits of material, while the interior is thinly lined with silvery thistle down, Clematis seeds and other woolly plant material. It is typically placed in a tall weed or small sapling in recently burnt woodland with sparse undergrowth, although it may occasionally use a deserted building instead. Egg-laying season is year round, peaking from March-June and in September. It lays 1-2 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14 days, leaving the nest intermittently in the morning and late afternoon to go and forage. The chicks are brooded solely by the female but fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 12-16 days.

Call
Melodious twitters.

Status
Common resident, locally nomadic. IUCN status - not threatened.

[Flutterby]

786. Variable Sunbird Cinnyris venustus (Geelpenssuikerbekkie)


Male
© Dindingwe
Harare, Zimbabwe

Female
© Dindingwe
Harare, Zimbabwe

Female
© Dindingwe
Harare, Zimbabwe

Links:
http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/bir ... nustus.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_sunbird

Male
© Dindingwe
Harare, Zimbabwe