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Black-throated Sunbird - BirdForum Opus

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Nominate subspecies : Male in full breeding plumage
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Sat Tal Forest, Altitude 5500 ft, Uttarakhand Himalayas, India, 6 April 2017


Aethopyga saturata

Identification

Female
Photo © by jbpixels
Doi Inthanon National Park, Thailand
17 February 2020

14–15 cm (5½-6 in)
Male:

  • Metallic-purple head and nape
  • Elongated central tail feathers

Female: is plain olive

Distribution

Asia: China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Bangladesh, Bhutan
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Malay Peninsula

Taxonomy

Subspecies A. s. wrayi male
Photo © Ken Doy
Fraser's Hill, Malaysia, 27 March 2019

Subspecies

There are 10 subspecies[1]:

  • A. s. saturata: Himalayas (Garhwal to Bhutan and south-eastern Tibet)
  • A. s. assamensis: Bangladesh to Assam, northern Burma and south-western China (western Yunnan)
  • A. s. galenae: Mountains of north-western Thailand
  • A. s. petersi: Eastern Burma to northern Thailand, Laos, northern Vietnam and south-eastern Yunnan
  • A. s. sanguinipectus: Hills of south-eastern Burma (Karenni and northern Tenasserim)
  • A. s. anomala: Hills of southern peninsula Thailand (Phatthalung and Trang)
  • A. s. wrayi: Mountains of Malay Peninsula (south of Trang)
  • A. s. ochra: Southern Laos (Bolavens Plateau) and central Vietnam (Dakto)
  • A. s. cambodiana: Mountains of south-western Cambodia
  • A. s. johnsi: Langbian Plateau (southern Vietnam)

Habitat

Lower montane closed rainforests, from 600 to 1800 meters. Urban gardens.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on flowers

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Avibase
  3. BF Member observations

Recommended Citation

External Links


GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

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