Bird Watching Blog

Scarlettufted sunbird

Deleornis fraseri

SUBFAMILY

Nectariniinae

TAXONOMY

Anthreptes fraseri Jardine and Selby, 1843, Bioko, Equatorial Guinea. Three subspecies.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: Fraser's sunbird; French: Souimanga de Fraser; German: Laubnektarvogel; Spanish: Nectarina Roja.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

4.5-5.0 in (11.5-12.7 cm); 0.35-0.54 oz (10-15.3g). Plumage non-metallic, uniform bright green; sexes alike except for orange-yellow pectoral tufts on male only. Immature birds like adults but olive-green above and paler below.

DISTRIBUTION

Central and West Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola. D. f. cam-eroonensis: southern Nigeria to northwestern Angola; D. f. fraseri. Bioko, Equatorial Guinea; D. f. idius: Sierra Leone to Togo.

HABITAT

Forests, forest edges, and cocoa plantations.

BEHAVIOR

Forages like a warbler, seeking insects among leaves, rarely seen at flowers.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Feeds on small insects and spiders.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Males defend territories aggressively, displaying with shrill calls while jerking head and tail forward and exposing scarlet pectoral tufts. Young fed by both sexes, but nest and eggs unknown.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened. Common in Liberia, elsewhere locally common.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS None known. ♦

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