Ruby-cheeked Sunbird
Chalcoparia singalensis
Tiny sunbird with a short sharp bill. Male’s metallic green upperparts, wine-red cheeks, and bright orange throat and chest are unmistakable. Female is less distinctive, but note her size, bill shape, and bright orange throat. Found in forest, forest edge, and gardens from lowlands up into hilly areas, typically foraging actively in upper levels of trees. High thin song variable, but usually incorporates whistles and twitters.
Taxonomy
The ruby-cheeked sunbird was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla singalensis. Gmelin erroneously specified the type locality as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where the species does not occur. The locality was designated as Malacca on the Malay Peninsula by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser in 1912. Gmelin based his account on the "green warbler" from the East Indies that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the English naturalist Peter Brown. The ruby-cheeked sunbird is now the only species placed in the genus Chalcoparia that was introduced in 1850 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. The genus name is from Ancient Greek khalkoparēos meaning "with cheeks of bronze". The specific epithet is from the erroneous type locality, Sri Lanka.<p>Eleven subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Chalcoparia singalensis
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Nectariniidae
- Genus
- Chalcoparia
Range and habitat
It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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