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Sunbird drinking nectar from typical bird-pollinated flower As nectar is a primary food source for sunbirds, they are important pollinators in African ecosystems. Sunbird-pollinated flowers are typically long, tubular, and red-to-orange in colour, showing convergent evolution with many hummingbird -pollinated flowers in the Americas. [ 10 ]
The ornate sunbird (Cinnyris ornatus) is a species of bird in the sunbird family Nectariniidae that is endemic to Mainland Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Lesser Sunda Islands. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the olive-backed sunbird, now renamed the garden sunbird ( Cinnyris jugularis ).
Clockwise from top left: ruby-cheeked sunbird, collared sunbird, Loten's sunbird, little spiderhunter, fire-tailed sunbird, and malachite sunbird. Nectariniidae is a family of passerine birds in the superfamily Passeroidea, comprising the sunbirds and spiderhunters. [1] Members of Nectariniidae are also known as nectariniids. [2]
The garden sunbird (under the name olive-backed sunbird) formerly included 21 subspecies and had a range that extended from Southeast Asia to Australia. Based on the difference in the male plumage and a genetic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences of some of the subspecies, the olive-backed sunbird was split into eight species.
male Palestine sunbird (Cinnyris osea osea) male Cinnyris sovimanga apolisCinnyris is a genus of sunbirds.Its members are sometimes included in Nectarinia.They are generally known as double-collared sunbirds because the fringe of their bib usually includes a band of contrastingly coloured feathers.
The Sahul sunbird (Cinnyris frenatus) is a species of bird in the sunbird family Nectariniidae that is endemic to Sulawesi eastwards to New Guinea and the Soloman Islands. It is also found in northeast Australia. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the olive-backed sunbird, now renamed the garden sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis).
The name Hedydipna comes from the Greek hēdudeipnos, meaning "dainty-supping" or "sweet-eating" — a reference to the nectar sipping habits of these species. [3] These sunbirds are largely restricted to Africa and western islands in the Indian Ocean, though the Nile Valley sunbird is found as far east as Yemen.
The name combines the Ancient Greek kuanos meaning "dark-blue" with mitra meaning "head-band". [3] The type species was designated by George Robert Gray in 1855 as Certhia cyanocephala Shaw. [4] [5] This taxon is now considered to be a subspecies of the green-headed sunbird (Cyanomitra verticalis cyanocephala''). [6]