Purple-rumped Sunbird
Encyclopedia
The Purple-rumped Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica) is a sunbird
endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. Like other sunbirds, they are small in size, feeding mainly on nectar but sometimes take insects, particularly when feeding young. They can hover for short durations but usually perch to feed. They build a hanging pouch nest made up of cobwebs, lichen
s and plant material. Males are brightly coloured but females are olive above and yellow to buff below.
-_female_at_nest_in_hyderabad_w2_img_0297.jpg)
Purple-rumped Sunbirds are tiny at less than 10 cm long. They have medium-length thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to their nectar feeding. Purple-rumped Sunbirds are sexually dimorphic
. The males have a dark maroon upperside with a blue-green crown that is visible in some angles. There are violet patches on the throat and rump which are visible only in good lighting. There is also a maroon breast band. In the Western Ghats
, it can overlap in some areas with the Crimson-backed Sunbird
but that species has reddish upperparts. The female has a white throat followed by yellowish breast. There is a bright green shoulder patch. The upperside is olive or brownish. The uppertail coverts are black and a weak supercilium is visible. The nominate form is found in Sri Lanka and has a more bluish violet throat whereas the Indian form flaviventris (two other proposed populations whistleri from Maddur in Karnataka and sola from Pondicherry are subsumed) has a more pinkish tinge.
Their call is ptsiee ptsit, ptsiee ptsswit or a sharp twittering tityou, titou, trrrtit, tityou....
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Purple-rumped Sunbird is a common resident breeder in southern India
, Sri Lanka
and Bangladesh
. It is found in Gujarat to the west
(possibly a recent expansion
) and extending into Assam (Hailakandi) or Meghalaya in the east. Records from Myanmar
are not certain. This species is found in a variety of habitats with trees, including scrub and cultivation and is usually absent from dense forest.
. The nest is placed on the end of branch and the entrance usually faces a bush. Nests may sometimes be built close to buildings or under open porches. The female stays in the nest at night a couple of day before laying the eggs. The clutch consists of two eggs which are oval pale greenish and white with spots and streaks becoming more dense at the broad end. When collecting cobwebs they are often seen at windows of homes. The eggs are laid mainly in the morning. The eggs are incubated by both the male and female. The incubation period varies from 14 to 16 days. The chicks fledge in about 17 days and continue to be fed by the male for a few days. Helpers
, females or possibly juveniles from the previous brood may sometimes assist the parents in feeding the young. Old nests are sometimes reused. Cases of nests being parasitised by the Grey-bellied Cuckoo
are known. In one case the cuckoo was fed by an adult sunbird as well as an adult Common Tailorbird
.
They pollinate
the flowers of many plant species such as Bruguiera
, Woodfordia
, Hamelia
and Sterculia
. They tend to perch while foraging for nectar and do not hover as much as the syntopic Loten's Sunbird. It has been noted that they maintain special scratching posts, where they get rid of pollen and nectar sticking to their head. When the flowers are too deep to probe, they sometimes pierce the base of the flower and rob the nectar. They sometimes visit open crop fields and take honeydew exuded by leafhoppers.
The may indulge in dew-bathing, or bathing by sliding in drops of rain collected on large leaves.
Sunbird
The sunbirds and spiderhunters are a family, Nectariniidae, of very small passerine birds. There are 132 species in 15 genera. The family is distributed throughout Africa, southern Asia and just reaches northern Australia. Most sunbirds feed largely on nectar, but also take insects and spiders,...
endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. Like other sunbirds, they are small in size, feeding mainly on nectar but sometimes take insects, particularly when feeding young. They can hover for short durations but usually perch to feed. They build a hanging pouch nest made up of cobwebs, lichen
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
s and plant material. Males are brightly coloured but females are olive above and yellow to buff below.
Description
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. The males have a dark maroon upperside with a blue-green crown that is visible in some angles. There are violet patches on the throat and rump which are visible only in good lighting. There is also a maroon breast band. In the Western Ghats
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
, it can overlap in some areas with the Crimson-backed Sunbird
Crimson-backed Sunbird
The Crimson-backed Sunbird or Small Sunbird is a sunbird endemic to the Western Ghats of India. Like other sunbirds, they feed mainly on nectar although they take insects, especially to feed their young...
but that species has reddish upperparts. The female has a white throat followed by yellowish breast. There is a bright green shoulder patch. The upperside is olive or brownish. The uppertail coverts are black and a weak supercilium is visible. The nominate form is found in Sri Lanka and has a more bluish violet throat whereas the Indian form flaviventris (two other proposed populations whistleri from Maddur in Karnataka and sola from Pondicherry are subsumed) has a more pinkish tinge.
Their call is ptsiee ptsit, ptsiee ptsswit or a sharp twittering tityou, titou, trrrtit, tityou....
Distribution
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. It is found in Gujarat to the west
(possibly a recent expansion
) and extending into Assam (Hailakandi) or Meghalaya in the east. Records from Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
are not certain. This species is found in a variety of habitats with trees, including scrub and cultivation and is usually absent from dense forest.
Behaviour and ecology
They breed through the year and may have two broods, but mainly during the monsoons. The nest is made up of fine plant fibres, cobwebs and is studded on the exterior with lichens, bark pieces, flying seeds and other materials. The nest is constructed by the female alone although the male may fly alongside her. The nest is lined with soft fibres from seeds of CalotropisCalotropis
Calotropis is a genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. They are commonly known as milkweeds because of the sap they produce. Calotropis species are considered common weeds in some parts of the world. The flowers are fragrant and are often used in making floral tassels in...
. The nest is placed on the end of branch and the entrance usually faces a bush. Nests may sometimes be built close to buildings or under open porches. The female stays in the nest at night a couple of day before laying the eggs. The clutch consists of two eggs which are oval pale greenish and white with spots and streaks becoming more dense at the broad end. When collecting cobwebs they are often seen at windows of homes. The eggs are laid mainly in the morning. The eggs are incubated by both the male and female. The incubation period varies from 14 to 16 days. The chicks fledge in about 17 days and continue to be fed by the male for a few days. Helpers
Helpers at the nest
Helpers at the nest is a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters, instead of...
, females or possibly juveniles from the previous brood may sometimes assist the parents in feeding the young. Old nests are sometimes reused. Cases of nests being parasitised by the Grey-bellied Cuckoo
Grey-bellied Cuckoo
The Grey-bellied Cuckoo or the Indian Plaintive Cuckoo, Cacomantis passerinus, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, and the Hoatzin....
are known. In one case the cuckoo was fed by an adult sunbird as well as an adult Common Tailorbird
Common Tailorbird
The Common Tailorbird is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens. Although shy birds that are usually hidden within vegetation, their loud calls are...
.
They pollinate
Ornithophily
Ornithophily or Bird Pollination is the pollination of flowering plants by birds. This coevolutionary association is derived from insect pollination and is particularly well developed in some parts of the world, especially in the tropics and on some island chains. The association involves several...
the flowers of many plant species such as Bruguiera
Bruguiera
Bruguiera is a plant genus in the family Rhizophoraceae. It is a small genus of six mangrove species of the Indian and west Pacific Ocean region, its range extending from East Africa and Madagascar through coastal India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia to northern Australia, Melanesia and Polynesia...
, Woodfordia
Woodfordia
Woodfordia is a genus of bird in the Zosteropidae family.It contains the following species:* Sanford's White-eye * Bare-eyed White-eye...
, Hamelia
Hamelia
Hamelia is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. The name honors French botanist Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau .-Selected species:* Hamelia axillaris Sw. – Guayabo Negro* Hamelia cuprea Griseb....
and Sterculia
Sterculia
Sterculia is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It was previously placed in the now obsolete Sterculiaceae. Members of the genus are colloquially known as tropical chestnuts...
. They tend to perch while foraging for nectar and do not hover as much as the syntopic Loten's Sunbird. It has been noted that they maintain special scratching posts, where they get rid of pollen and nectar sticking to their head. When the flowers are too deep to probe, they sometimes pierce the base of the flower and rob the nectar. They sometimes visit open crop fields and take honeydew exuded by leafhoppers.
The may indulge in dew-bathing, or bathing by sliding in drops of rain collected on large leaves.
Other sources
- Green,EE (1907) Window-tapping by birds. Spolia Zeylanica 5(17):65-66.
- Ryan,J (1908) The Purple-rumped Sunbird. Spolia Zeylanica 5(18):110-111.
- Johnson,J Mangalaraj (1970): Bird notes - Purplerumped Sunbird. Indian Forester 96:336-337.
- Lamba,BS (1978) Nidification of some common Indian birds 13. the Purple-rumped Sunbird, Nectarinia zeylonica Linnaeus. Indian J. For. 1(4):329-344.
- Prasad, A. (2007) Paternal aggressive behaviour towards offspring in Purple-rumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc 104(1):94