Animalia Life
Nectarinia famosa
SUBFAMILY
Nectariniinae
TAXONOMY
Certhia famosa Linnaeus, 1766, Cape of Good Hope, South
Africa. Two subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Yellow-tufted malachite sunbird, green sugarbird,
long-tailed emerald sunbird; French: Souimanga malachite;
German: Malachitnektarvogel; Spanish: Nectarina de Copete
Amarillo.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Male 9.4–10.6 in (24–27 cm), female 5.1–5.9 in (13–15 cm); male
0.42–0.79 oz (12.0–22.5 g), female 0.32–0.62 oz (9.1–17.5 g).
Mostly dark green with long bill and short tail with two elongated
tail feathers. Blackish wings with small yellow patch.
DISTRIBUTION
N. f. cupreonitens: highlands of Eritrea, Ethiopia, southern Sudan,
eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania,
Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, northern Malawi, and northern
Mozambique; N. f. famosa: Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho,
western Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.
HABITAT
In South Africa from coast to 9,200 ft (2,800 m) high in fynbos,
karoo vegetation, alpine moorland, and gardens, but not in
forest. Elsewhere found in open areas, moorland, bamboo
zone, and at forest edges.
BEHAVIOR
Often seen singly but may congregate in flocks of more than
1,000 birds in patches of favorite food such as Leonotis leonurus.
Aggressive, defending feeding areas against conspecifics involving
physical duels in mid-air, other species of sunbirds, and
wide variety of other birds. Can lower body temperature during
cold nights.
Territorial. Males perform elaborate display flights, involving
dive-bombing rivals from high up or twisting flights with
wings stretched out. Song sometimes accompanied by pointing
head upward and displaying pectoral tufts with wings half
open. Courtship display by males involves drooping wings and
whistling, followed by fast warbling and flapping of wings and
showing of pectoral tufts, before vertical flight and landing on
female to copulate.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feeds on flowers to take nectar, especially from proteas, redhot
pokers, and giant lobelias. Also takes wide variety of insects,
sometimes catching them in mid-air like a flycatcher.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Up to three greenish eggs with dark mottles laid in oval nest,
often with porch of grass above entrance hole. Nest may be
suspended or placed in a bush. Female incubates for two
weeks. After two-week nestling period, both parents feed fledglings,
who return to nest for roosting. May be double- or
triple-brooded, sometimes reusing same nest. Parasitized by
Klaas’s cuckoo and by red-chested cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius).
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Locally common in highland areas.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Pollinator of proteas and other flowers.