Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Chalcomitra senegalensis
A large dark sunbird with a long decurved bill. The male is spectacular, glossy velvet-black with a striking scarlet daub on the chest and an iridescent green crown and throat. The female is dark gray-brown and heavily streaked underneath. Singles and pairs occupy a broad variety of dry and moist savanna, parkland, and gardens, eating nectar and insects. The species gives a loud series of “tjip” and “teeeuw” notes. Hunter’s Sunbird differs from the similar Scarlet-chested Sunbird by having a violet rump and shoulder patches and having a black central throat (not iridescent green).
Identification
The scarlet-chested sunbird is similar to Hunter's sunbird in appearance, with adult males having a characteristic red–scarlet coloured breast and an iridescent green patch on top of its head. The female is dark brown with no supercilium. It inhabits woodland and gardens, at elevations of up to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). The bird is around 13–15 centimetres (5.1–5.9 in) in length, with males having a weight of 7.5–17.2 grams (0.26–0.61 oz) and females weighing 6.8–15.3 grams (0.24–0.54 oz).
Taxonomy
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the scarlet-chested sunbird in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name Le grimpereau violet du Sénégal and the Latin Certhia Senegalensis Violacea. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition in 1766, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the scarlet-chested sunbird. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Certhia senegalensis and cited Brisson's work. This species is now placed in the genus Chalcomitra that was introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853. Six subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Chalcomitra senegalensis
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Nectariniidae
- Genus
- Chalcomitra
Range and habitat
It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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