Alternative Name: Marico Sunbird
- Cinnyris mariquensis
Identification
11–14 cm (4¼-5½ in)
Upperside and throat green, belly and lower breast dark, and between these a narrow blue band near the throat and below a broad purple band.
The bill is dark, decurved.
Similar species
Bill is longer than in Purple-banded Sunbird
Distribution
Eastern and Southern Africa :
Western Africa: Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, eSwatini
Taxonomy
This is one of the many Sunbirds that have recently been moved to the genus Cinnyris from the genus Nectarinia.
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognized[1]:
- C. m. osiris
- Eritrea, Ethiopia, northwestern Somalia, southern South Sudan, and northern Uganda
- C. m. suahelicus
- Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to central Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and northeast Zambia
- C. m. mariquensis
- Southern Angola to northern Namibia, southwest Zambia, Zimbabwe and northern South Africa
Habitat
Dry bush savanna and woodland. Riverine forest edges and fringes of swamp forests.
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists of nectar in addition to insects such as flies, termites and spiders.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Sinclair et al. 2002. Birds of Southern Africa. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-691-09682-1
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Feb 2018)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Mariqua Sunbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Mariqua_Sunbird
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
