Purple-rumped Sunbird

Purple-rumped Sunbird
Purple-rumped Sunbird
Male (from Kolkata)
Female on Calliandra, note the whitish throat (from Kolkata, India)
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Nectariniidae
Genus: Leptocoma
Species: L. zeylonica
Binomial name
Leptocoma zeylonica
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms

Nectarinia zeylonica
Certhia zeylonica
Chalcostetha zeylonica
Cinnyris sola
Arachnechthra zeylonica
Cyrtostomus zeylonicus

The Purple-rumped Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica) is a sunbird endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. Like other sunbirds, they are small in size, feeding mainly on nectar but sometimes take insects, particularly when feeding young. They can hover for short durations but usually perch to feed. They build a hanging pouch nest made up of cobwebs, lichens and plant material. Males are brightly coloured but females are olive above and yellow to buff below.

Contents

Description

Female at nest. Note the faint supercilium.

Purple-rumped Sunbirds are tiny at less than 10 cm long. They have medium-length thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to their nectar feeding. Purple-rumped Sunbirds are sexually dimorphic. The males have a dark maroon upperside with a blue-green crown that is visible in some angles. There are violet patches on the throat and rump which are visible only in good lighting. There is also a maroon breast band. In the Western Ghats, it can overlap in some areas with the Crimson-backed Sunbird but that species has reddish upperparts. The female has a white throat followed by yellowish breast. There is a bright green shoulder patch. The upperside is olive or brownish. The uppertail coverts are black and a weak supercilium is visible. The nominate form is found in Sri Lanka and has a more bluish violet throat whereas the Indian form flaviventris (two other proposed populations whistleri from Maddur in Karnataka and sola from Pondicherry are subsumed) has a more pinkish tinge.[2]

Their call is ptsiee ptsit, ptsiee ptsswit or a sharp twittering tityou, titou, trrrtit, tityou....[3]

Distribution

Immature Male (Kolkata)
Male, showing its white underwing

Purple-rumped Sunbird is a common resident breeder in southern India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It is found in Gujarat to the west [4] (possibly a recent expansion

[5]) and extending into Assam (Hailakandi[6]) or Meghalaya[2] in the east. Records from Myanmar are not certain.[2] This species is found in a variety of habitats with trees, including scrub and cultivation and is usually absent from dense forest.

Male at nest

Behaviour and ecology

They breed through the year and may have two broods,[7] but mainly during the monsoons.[2] The nest is made up of fine plant fibres, cobwebs and is studded on the exterior with lichens, bark pieces, flying seeds and other materials. The nest is constructed by the female alone although the male may fly alongside her. The nest is lined with soft fibres from seeds of Calotropis.[8] The nest is placed on the end of branch and the entrance usually faces a bush.[9] Nests may sometimes be built close to buildings or under open porches.[10] The female stays in the nest at night a couple of day before laying the eggs. The clutch consists of two eggs which are oval pale greenish and white with spots and streaks becoming more dense at the broad end. When collecting cobwebs they are often seen at windows of homes. The eggs are laid mainly in the morning. The eggs are incubated by both the male and female. The incubation period varies from 14 to 16 days. The chicks fledge in about 17 days and continue to be fed by the male for a few days. Helpers, females or possibly juveniles from the previous brood may sometimes assist the parents in feeding the young.[11] Old nests are sometimes reused.[3] Cases of nests being parasitised by the Grey-bellied Cuckoo are known. In one case the cuckoo was fed by an adult sunbird as well as an adult Common Tailorbird.[12][13][14]

They pollinate the flowers of many plant species such as Bruguiera, Woodfordia, Hamelia and Sterculia.[15] They tend to perch while foraging for nectar and do not hover as much as the syntopic Loten's Sunbird.[16] It has been noted that they maintain special scratching posts, where they get rid of pollen and nectar sticking to their head.[17] When the flowers are too deep to probe, they sometimes pierce the base of the flower and rob the nectar.[18] They sometimes visit open crop fields and take honeydew exuded by leafhoppers.[19]

The may indulge in dew-bathing, or bathing by sliding in drops of rain collected on large leaves.[20]

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2008). Nectarinia asiatica. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 11 July 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Rasmussen PC & JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide.. 2. Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions.. p. 547. 
  3. ^ a b Ali S & S D Ripley (1999). Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. 10 (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 23–25. 
  4. ^ Khacher,Lavkumar (2000). "Range extension of the Purplerumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica.". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 97 (1): 146. 
  5. ^ Khacher,Lavkumar (2000). "Purplerumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica (Linn.) at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 97 (3): 431–432. 
  6. ^ Choudhury,Anwaruddin (1991). "Purplerumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica (Linn.): a new record for Assam.". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 88 (1): 114. 
  7. ^ Whistler, Hugh (1949). Popular handbook of Indian birds. Gurney & Jackson, London. pp. 270–271. http://www.archive.org/details/popularhandbooko033226mbp. 
  8. ^ Hume, AO (1890). The nests and eggs of Indian Birds. 2 (2 ed.). R H Porter London. pp. 263–267. http://www.archive.org/details/nestseggsofindia02humerich. 
  9. ^ Bharucha,Erach K (1983). "Nest-building error by a female Purplerumped Sunbird.". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 80 (1): 220. 
  10. ^ George,NJ (1982). "Purplerumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica nesting on the loosely fixed wiring under the concrete sunshade of the house.". Newsletter for Birdwatchers 22 (11–12): 11. 
  11. ^ Ganguly,Jayanta Kumar (1986). "Co-operative feeding of chicks of the Purplerumped Sunbird (Nectarinia zeylonica)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 83 (2): 447. 
  12. ^ Bharucha, Erach K (1981). "Sunbirds fostering fledglings of the plaintive cuckoos". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 79: 670–671. 
  13. ^ Suter, MF (1944). "Plaintive Cuckoo (?) parasitising purple sunbird". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 45 (2): 235. 
  14. ^ Wesley,HD (1996). "Breeding behaviour of Nectarinia zeylonica at two latitudes in the Indian peninsula". Newsletter for Birdwatchers 36 (2): 28–29. http://www.archive.org/stream/NLBW36_2#page/n9/mode/1up. 
  15. ^ Raju, Aluri Jacob Solomon (2005). "Passerine bird pollination and seed dispersal in Woodfordia floribunda Salisb. (Lythraceae), a common low altitude woody shrub in the Eastern Ghats forests of India". Ornithological Science 4 (2): 103–108. doi:10.2326/osj.4.103. 
  16. ^ Reuben, Rachel (1984). "Feeding behaviour of sunbirds, Nectarinia zeylonica and N. lotenia". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 83 (2): 445–446. 
  17. ^ Nagarajan, B.; M. Krishnamoorthy; C. Pandiarajan; A Manimekalan (2009). "Can sweetness be difficult to handle when in excess?". Current Science 96 (11): 1433. http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jun102009/1433.pdf. 
  18. ^ Fujita K (2000). "Nectar Robbing by the Purple-rumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica from Introduced Flowers in Sri Lanka". Japanese Journal of Ornithology 49 (4): 185–187. doi:10.3838/jjo.49.185. 
  19. ^ Kumar, Satish (1995). "Sugary exudate of sorghum Sorghum bicolor as food of large grey babbler Turdoides malcolmi (Sykes), purplerumped sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica (Linn.) and redvented bulbul Pycnonotus cafer (Linnaeus)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc 92 (3): 421–422. 
  20. ^ Natarajan,V; Balasubramanian,P (1992). "Dew bathing by Purplerumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica (Linn.)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 89 (3): 377–378. 

Other sources

External links

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Goa,India Nov 1997

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