From Opus

Cinnyris asiaticus

Breeding male Purple Sunbird
Photo by Seyed Babak Mus
Bam town, Iran

Nectarinia asiatica

[edit] Identification

10cm long. The bill is thin and curved downwards. Their tongues are tubular and brush tipped.

Adult breeding male: Mainly glossy purple.

Adult male, eclipse plumage: Yellow-grey upperparts and a yellow breast with a blue central streak extending to the belly.

Female: Yellow-grey upperparts and yellowish under parts, and a faint supercilium.

The call is a humming zit zit.

Male Purple Sunbird in eclipse plumage
Photo by dineshagg

[edit] Distribution

Asia from the Persian Gulf to Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan tropical Africa.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is one of the many Sunbirds that have recently been moved to the genus Cinnyris from the genus Nectarinia.

[edit] Habitat

Forest and cultivation.

Female Purple Sunbird
Photo by Rajiv Lather
Karnal, India

[edit] Behaviour

Their main source of food is nectar, though they also eat insects. They can hover to feed from nectar, but mainly perch. They build a suspended nest in a tree and 1-3 eggs are laid.

The sunbirds are a group of very small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time.

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