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Tsavo Sunbird - BirdForum Opus


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Photo © by Thibaud Aronson
Tsavo West National Park, Kenya, 3 March 2023
Cinnyris tsavoensis

Identification

9.5 to 10 cm. Female - greyish-brown above and on the head, white eyebrow stripe, white or dusky throat with white malar strips, underparts faintly yellow-tinged white, dusky stripes on the breast, blue-black tail with grey edges and tip.

Male - gleaming blue-green above and on the head, black belly and lower breast, upper breast may have a maroon band, bill is down-curved and rather short. The juvenile male looks like the dark-throated form of the female. Later it develops a black throat and black wing coverts, both with green feathers intermixed, and often a wide black stripe down the belly.

Distribution

Southern Somalia, eastern Kenya, and northeastern Tanzania

Taxonomy

Cinnyris tsavoensis is monotypic.

Habitat

Arid scrub.

Behaviour

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

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