31 January 2024: Day 13, Livingstone, Zambia — Street Pupil Southern Africa Birding Safari. Click on right here to peer (in most cases) the place I’m as of late.
Africa has no hummingbirds (Trochilidae) however they’ve a circle of relatives of nectar-feeding birds with most of the similar traits: Sunbirds (Nectariniidae). Despite the fact that the 2 households are unrelated they’re an instance of convergent evolution, provided with the similar equipment and behavior.
The similarities between hummingbirds and sunbirds are putting. Each have:
- Brilliantly coloured men, frequently iridescent
- Sexually dimorphic women
- Lengthy curved expenses for amassing nectar
- Quick wings and rapid, direct flight
- Feed totally on nectar
- Feed bugs and spiders to their younger
- Are essential flower pollinators
- Most well-liked flora are crimson or orange, lengthy and tubular
- Those who reside the place it’s chilly can input torpor.
Their variations also are attention-grabbing:
Hummingbirds vs. Sunbirds
| Hummingbirds | Sunbirds |
|---|---|
| New International simplest | Outdated International: Africa, Asia, Australasia |
| Differ in size from 1.59 g to twenty grams | Differ in size from 5 g to 45 grams |
| Hover and feature tiny ft | Perch with standard ft |
| Do not hang around with circle of relatives | Generally present in pairs; every so often in circle of relatives or higher teams |
| Some make lengthy migrations | Sedentary or short-distance migrations |
| Hummingbird beaks cannot pierce flora. That is the process of flowerpiercers. | Sunbirds pierce flora if the nectar is simply too onerous to achieve. |
On our excursion we’ll come across two species of sunbirds: the scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis) and the amethyst sunbird (Chalcomitra amethystina).
The scarlet-chested could be very iridescent and, amazingly, is regarded as a pest in cocoa plantations as it spreads parasitic mistletoes consistent with Wikipedia.
The amethyst sunbird has fewer iridescent spots …
… however a captivating voice.
Gorgeous as sunbirds are, I’m happy we now have hummingbirds as a substitute.