Garden Sunbird
Cinnyris jugularis
Tiny and active sunbird of forest edges, parks, and gardens. Endemic to the Philippines (excluding Palawan). Both sexes have a plain olive back, a yellow belly, and white tail edges that are flared out in flight. The male flashes an iridescent blue throat while the female has a yellow throat and eyebrow. Gives a fast, jumbled series of rising whistles and squeaks. Frequently-heard call, a rising “dweet”, is a familiar sound even in cities. Formerly grouped with other, closely related species under “Olive-backed Sunbird.”
Identification
The ornate sunbird is 10–11.4 cm (3.9–4.5 in) in length. The male weighs 6.7–11.9 g (0.24–0.42 oz), the female 6–10 g (0.21–0.35 oz). The species is sexual dimorphic. The male of the nominate subspecies is olive above, the remiges are black with green edging and the black tail has a white tip. The throat, side of neck, throat and breast are blue-black iridescent. The underparts are yellow. The iris is dark brown, the bill and legs are black. The female lacks the iridescent throat, is greenish-olive above, and has a yellow supercilium. For the male Cinnyris ornatus ornatus subspecies, it differs from the male garden sunbird in having some purple-black gloss on forehead and having paler yellow plumage below.
Taxonomy
The ornate sunbird was formally described in 1827 by the French naturalist René Lesson under the binomial name Cinnyris ornatus. He based his description on a hand-coloured plate showing the male and female birds that had been published in 1822 as part of a book by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. Temminck's specimens had been collected in Java. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "ornate" or "adorned". The ornate sunbird forms part of the olive-backed sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) species complex. A comparison of mitochondrial DNA sequences has revealed deep genetic divergence from the other groups sampled. With the split of the complex the olive-backed sunbird has been renamed to the garden sunbird.<p>Eight subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Cinnyris jugularis
- Authority
- Lesson, RP, 1827
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Nectariniidae
- Genus
- Cinnyris
Range and habitat
The ornate sunbird is resident in Myanmar, southern China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is found in various habitats including mangroves, forest edge, open scrub as well as parks and gardens.
Behavior
The elongated hanging nest is 30–60 cm (12–24 in) in length and has a hooded side entrance. It is usually placed between 0.5 and 1.5 m (1 ft 8 in and 4 ft 11 in) above the ground but can occasionally be as high as 10 m (33 ft). It is constructed by the female using grass, bark, moss, lichens, leaf fragments, vegetable fibres and spider webs. The clutch of 1–3 eggs is incubated by the female. The eggs hatch after 11–16 days and the young are then fed by both parents. The chicks fledge after 13–16 days. Normally several broods are raised each year.<p>It forages either singly or in small groups. The diet mainly consists of small insects, spiders, nectar and small fruit.
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Spot-backed Antwren
Herpsilochmus dorsimaculatus
Small canopy antwren with a long, graduated tail. Males are largely gray with a black crown and a bold white eyebrow; the black spots on the back can be difficult to see. Females have a buff forehead and breast sides, with the black crown spotted white. Inhabits humid lowland forest and seasonally flooded forest in some regions. Almost invariably seen accompanying canopy mixed-species flocks. The song is a somewhat deep trill that slightly ascends and then descends: “wiwiwurrrrr.”
Mottled Spinetail
Telacanthura ussheri
Medium-sized swift with erratic flight. Note the dark underparts and white rump patch, which separate it from other spinetails. Seen on the wing over moist savannah, woodland, and gallery forest. Often in areas with baobabs, which are a favored nesting site. Usually solo or in pairs. Similar in appearance to Little Swift, but Mottled Spinetail shows a pale band across the bottom of the belly, and flies more weakly, with the wings pushed forwards.
South American Painted-Snipe
Nycticryphes semicollaris
Distinctive and attractive, but a rarely seen denizen of fresh and brackish wetlands, especially with shallow water and low to knee-high grasses; also found on lakeshores with taller reeds and rushes. Occasionally seen feeding quietly at edge of vegetation, but mostly seen when flushed from close range. Flies up silently with stiff flicking wingbeats and brief glides, long legs trailing, and drops back to cover usually not far away. Note bold white spots on wings and droop-tipped bill. Related to jacanas, not closely related to the typical snipe.
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