Van Hasselt's sunbird (''Leptocoma brasiliana''), is a species of

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 family Nectariniidae. It is found in

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It used to be considered a subspecies of the

purple-throated sunbird The purple-throated sunbird (''Leptocoma sperata''), is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. Its natural habitats are lowland tropical forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest of Maratua and the Philippines. The Van Has ...

. In 1939, a group of bird lovers in Hawaii known as the Hui Manu released 28 of these birds on various parts of the leeward side of Oahu in Hawaii in an attempt to get them to become established there; none appeared have succeeded.Papers of the Hui Manu, Hawaii State Archives, Collection M-465, Box 2, "Bird Importations, 1930-1955."

References

*Rasmussen, P.C., and J.C. Anderton. 2005. Birds of South Asia. The Ripley guide. Volume 2: attributes and status. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions, Washington D.C. and Barcelona. Van Hasselt's sunbird Birds of Northeast India Birds of Southeast Asia Van Hasselt's sunbird Van Hasselt's sunbird {{Nectariniidae-stub