Malachite Sunbird Nectarinia famosa Scientific name definitions

Male 24–27 cm, 12–22·5 g; female 13–15 cm, 9·1–17·5 g. Male nominate race breeding has most of body plumage bright metallic malachite-green , but rump and upper­tail-coverts darker green, pectoral tufts bright yellow, lower belly and undertail-coverts green with blue wash; lesser and median upperwing-coverts bright golden-green, tertials and greater coverts edged bright green, remiges sooty black edged glossy blue; tail brownish-black, edged dark green on outer webs (except on outer rectrices), central pair of feathers protruding up to 80 mm ; iris dark brown; bill and legs black. Male non-breeding (eclipse) has metallic green on wing-coverts, rump and uppertail-coverts, but long central tail feathers lost. Female is brown above, with grey-olive wash from neck to uppertail-coverts, tail olive-black, outer rectrices tipped and edged white, adjacent pair with white edges on outer webs, upperwing brown with yellow-olive edges on outer webs; whitish supercilium, pale yellow malar stripe; lacks pectoral tufts, has throat and breast pale yellow with brown blotches and yellow-olive wash, belly similar but less blotched and occasionally bright yellow or green-yellow; flanks olive, undertail-­coverts greyish-white. Juvenile is like female, but greener upperparts and yellower underparts and malar stripe; some males have black in centre of throat. Race cupreonitens male has bill shorter (26–31 mm) than nominate (30–36 mm), is more golden-green above, blue colour from chest to undertail-coverts darker, less green, central tail feathers also shorter (94–120 mm) than nominate (110–151 mm), non-breeding dress similar to female but retains black remiges and tail, including elongated central rectrices (in contrast to nominate), metallic gloss on wing and uppertail-coverts and, sometimes, a few metallic tips on body feathers.

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Open habitats, scrubby moorland, forest edge, Protea moorland and bamboo at high elevations in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia; also found in restionaceous fynbos, alpine grassland, scrub and gardens. Seldom below 2400 m in Ethiopia; to 3000 m in Tanzania; sea-level to 2800 m in South Africa, but mostly in upland fynbos.

Nomadic in search of flowers; recoveries up to 161 km from ringing site in South Africa. Moves altitudinally in Kenya, coming down to 1400 m; moves to higher elevations to feed on aloes during droughts in Zimbabwe, where may be nomadic after breeding. Possibly only a non-breeding visitor in S Sudan (Imatong Mts).

Nectar and insects; also two small lizards recorded as prey. Food taken from plants such as giant lobelias (Lobelia), aloes (Aloe) and red-hot pokers (Kniphofia). Other plants visited include mistletoes (Loranthaceae), Hagenia abyssinica, and those of genera Acacia, Buddleja, Digitalis, Erica, Erythrina, Grevillea, Halleria, Hypericum, Impatiens, Jacaranda, Kigelia, Leonotis, Leucospermum, Nicotiana and Protea. Forages solitarily, in pairs and in loose groups of 30–40 individuals; also large assemblies (up to 1350 birds/ha in Leonotis leonurus patch) at feeding stations. Perches on specialized “rat-tail” of the South African Cape endemic rat’s-tail plant (Babiana ringens) to reach inflorescences and effect pollination; feeds also from Babiana thunbergii. Pollinaria attached to feet involved in pollination of the orchids Disa chrysostachya and Disa satyriopsis.

Song involves whistling “tseuu, tseuu” notes followed by “pesui pesui pesui” or “tik, tik, tik, tik, tik, tik, tik-heezy, heezy, heezy, heezy”; also a fast warble, sometimes interspersed with “chip” calls. Contact calls “tseuu, tseuu” or “tsi-tseer”; other calls include “ssseeep” or “sseeem” or “sweeenk” and “chip”; alarm a repetitive “trreeeee” or slower “tjoep, tjoep, tjoep”.

Laying recorded in Jul–Sept in Ethiopia, Aug and Dec in Kenya, Mar, May and Jul–Aug in Tanzania, Jun in Zambia, Jan–Feb, Jun and Aug in Malawi, Aug–Mar in Zimbabwe, May–Feb in South Africa, Nov–Jan in Lesotho and Apr in Namibia; double-brooded, often triple-brooded. Territorial, but extra-pair copulations and cloaca-pecking occur. Male courtship involves calling, flicking of drooped wings, fast warbling and wing-flapping, sometimes with tail cocked at sharp angle and waved up and down or from side to side, and exposed pectoral tufts; male then flies vertically before hovering above female and descending to copulate; receptive female utters “pseeep-pseeep” calls. Male accompanies nest-building female on forays for material, nest may be completed in just 3 days but usually takes 7–30 days; nest oval, usually with porch, sometimes with “beard”, made of grass, fibres, leaves, twigs, rootlets and cobwebs, adorned with lichen or white cocoons, lined with grass, hair, feathers, down, wool and cotton, often placed (not suspended) within bush and with entrance facing inwards, but can be from near ground to 20 m up in tree or bush, often overhanging water; nest sometimes reused for further brood. Clutch 1–3 eggs, often 1 near equator, creamy or grey to brown or green-brown or green-white, freckled olive, grey or brown, dots densest at wider end; incubation by female, period 13 days; chicks fed by female, sometimes also by male, both sexes remove faecal sacs, nestling period 14–21 days; both parents feed fledglings, which return to roost in nest for up to 14 nights. Nests parasitized by Red-chested Cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) and Klaas’s Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas).

Not globally threatened. Common in South Africa; locally common in highlands of Kenya, Tanzania and DRCongo (1200–2800 m); uncommon in Ethiopia and Sudan.