Usambara Double-collared Sunbird
Cinnyris usambaricus
A medium-sized sunbird. Males are colorful, green and red, and females drab olive-brownish. Males have yellow shoulder tufts that are usually hidden. Found in montane forest, forest edge, and gardens. Similar to other double-collared sunbirds, but separated by range. Female is plainer than female Banded and Amani Sunbirds, with a longer bill. The calls include “tsik” and “tseet” notes, and the song is a long, rapid jumble.
Identification
The Usambara double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris usambaricus) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is a resident breeder in the tropical moist montane forests of southeast Kenya and Tanga Region of Tanzania.
Taxonomy
The Usambara double-collared sunbird was described as a subspecies of the eastern double-collared sunbird by the German ornithologist Hermann Grote in 1922 and given the trinomial name Cinnyris mediocris usambaricus. He description was based on specimens collected in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. It was promoted to species status based on differences in plumage and genetics. The species is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Cinnyris usambaricus
- Authority
- Grote, 1922
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Nectariniidae
- Genus
- Cinnyris
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Cuban Parakeet
Psittacara euops
A sleek green bird of forests, forest edges, and palm savannahs. Groups of ten to twenty birds often rapidly disappear upon landing, their plumage melting into the similarly colored foliage. Easily distinguished from other species in its range by its color, slim build, and long pointed tail. In overflight appears green with red on forewing. Flight call is shrill and squeaky; notes of each bird often given singly or in couplets. When perched, calls are typically quiet with a murmuring quality.
Hawfinch
Coccothraustes coccothraustes
Unique, chunky finch. Note the massive bill (steely gray in summer, pinkish in winter) and blue-gray hindneck, like a shawl on an orangey head. Broad white tail tip and white wing band show mainly in flight. Despite distinctive appearance, shy and easily overlooked. Favors mixed and deciduous mature woodland, especially with beech, oak, and hornbeam, where tends to feed and perch quietly, high in the canopy. Also feeds on the ground in autumn and winter, sometimes forming single-species flocks. Gives high-pitched “tsik!” and lower ticking calls.
Comoro White-eye
Zosterops mouroniensis
A small, sharp-billed warbler-like bird. Note the yellow underparts and the narrow white spectacles around the eyes. Found in montane heath on Mount Karthala on Grand Comoro. Usually in hyperactive flocks. Very similar to Kirk’s White-eye, and they overlap at the lower reaches of the montane heath zone. Comoro White-eye is separated by being slightly larger and duller olive-green overall, especially on the underparts and above the bill, and most importantly by the narrower white eye-ring. Song is a quiet, chatty sequence of low “chew” notes. Calls include rattling notes and high-pitched whistles.
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