Animalia Life

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. cameroonensis: 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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