The greater double-collared sunbird (''Cinnyris afer'') (formerly placed in the genus ''Nectarinia''), is a small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the

sunbird Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Distribution and habitat

The sunbird breeds in southern

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is mainly resident, but partly migratory in the northeast of its range. It is common in gardens,

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

, forest edges and coastal scrub.

Description

This sunbird is 14 cm long and exhibits a clear

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. The adult male has a glossy, metallic green head, throat upper breast and back. It has a broad brilliant red band across the chest, separated from the green breast by a narrow metallic blue band. The rest of the underparts are pale grey. When displaying, yellow feather tufts can be seen on the shoulders. The plumage on the female is pale grey, darker in the wings. As with other sunbirds the bill is long and decurved. The bill, legs and feet are black. The eye is dark brown. The male can be distinguished from the similar lesser double-collared sunbird by the latter's smaller size, narrower red chest band and shorter bill. The call is a hard chut-chut-chut, and the song is a high pitched jumble of tweets and twitters, richer than the calls of the lesser double-collared sunbird.

Behaviour

The sunbird is usually seen singly or in pairs. Its flight is fast and direct on short wings.

Breeding

The sunbird breeds all year round, with a peak from July to November. 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 feathers.

Feeding

It lives mainly on nectar from flowers, but takes some fruit, and, especially when feeding young, insects and spiders. It has the habit of hovering in front of webs to extract spiders. It can hover like a

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

to take nectar, but usually perches to do so.

Call

The Greater Double-Collared Sunbird makes a shrill whistle and click: Wrew wrew wrew ch ch.

References

* Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'',

External links

* Greater double-collared sunbird
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

SASOL e-guide
{{Taxonbar, from=Q25187709

greater double-collared sunbird The greater double-collared sunbird (''Cinnyris afer'') (formerly placed in the genus ''Nectarinia''), is a small bird in the sunbird family. Distribution and habitat The sunbird breeds in southern South Africa. It is mainly resident, but part ...

Birds of Southern Africa