Sahul Sunbird
Cinnyris frenatus· 太阳鸟科(8 photos)
Locations:
Sahul Sunbird
11-12 cm. Male: note long curved bill; throat/upperbreast burnished blue-black; slight yellow eyebrow and whisker-streak; upperparts olive-green; underparts yellow; tail black with whitish corners. Female: eyebrow, whole throat/breast lemon-yellow. Immature: like female; young males develop dark 'bib' from centre. Singles, pairs, temporary groups: assertive; flits about blossoms, hovers to feed; takes spiders, dismembering them while hovering at web. Direct flight swift, darting; mixes with smaller honeyeaters. Groups gather in animated display, uttering brisk calls. Tame; nests about houses/tropical gardens.
- Other name
- Yellow-bellied or Yellow-breasted Sunbird.
- Voice
- splintered squeaky notes, staccato in display; loud, rising, canary-like 'tweeet'; brisk twittering song.
- Habitat
- margins of rainforest; vegetation on watercourses; coastal scrubs, paperbarks, mangroves, lantana thickets, agricultural areas, streets, orchards, gardens.
- Breeding
- Oct.-March; most months.
- Nest
- beautiful, pendulous, 30-60 cm long; with hooded side entrance; of bark, grass, leaves, spiders' web, incl. web-debris; lined with plant down, feathers; suspended from sapling, vine, low branch, sometimes over water; houses, sheds, verandahs, etc.
- Eggs
- 1-2 (3); grey-green, mottled brownish, in zone at large end. Parasitised by Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo.
- Range & Status
- coastal n. Q and many coastal islands: from C. York s. to near Normanton on w. coast and to c. Bundaberg on e. coast. Vagrant further s. as far as Maitland (ne. NSW). Common. Sedentary. Also Solomon Is., PNG, to parts of Indonesia, se. Asia, se. China.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Cinnyris jugularis frenatus
