Vigors's Sunbird Aethopyga vigorsii Scientific name definitions

Male 15 cm, 7·9 g; female 10 cm, 7·7 g. Has heavy, strongly curved bill. Male has forehead to centre of crown metallic blue-green, metallic violet or blue cheek spot; nape to mantle and shoulders dark, dull crimson-red, back blackish, patch on lower back pale yellow; uppertail-coverts and elongated narrow central tail feathers blackish-brown, edged metallic blue, outer rectrices tipped dark grey, edges of other tail feathers metallic green; upperwing blackish-brown; throat to breast scarlet with obvious yellow streaks, metallic violet or blue malar streak, breast bordered below by thin blackish band which extends downwards to form narrow black patch; rest of underparts grey, underwing-coverts and axillaries white; iris red-brown to crimson; bill blackish, dark brown below; legs dark brown to blackish. Female has crown, nape and mantle greyish-olive, back olive, brightening to olive-yellow on rump and uppertail-coverts; tail black, outer webs tipped olive, inner webs tipped white, central feathers olive, wing dark brown, edged olive; chin whitish-grey, throat to breast olive-grey, rest of underparts grey, some individuals with chin to breast dull orange-scarlet; bare parts as male. Juvenile male is occasionally like adult female, but with dull scarlet throat and breast (possibly a transitional stage, rather than a discrete plumage); juvenile female as adult but greyer below.

NW Maharashtra (W Satpuras) and Western Ghats (from R Narmada S at least to Goa area), in W India.

Evergreen and moist-deciduous forest, and forest edge, particularly around flowering trees and shrubs; foothills, to 1000 m.

Nothing recorded.

Nectar; presumably also small insects, and spiders (Araneae). Forages mostly in small groups, generally in upper levels but often lower.

Sharp, harsh “chi-wee”; also “shwíng!”, said to be richer, more strident and more slurred than similar call of A. siparaja.

Season Jun–Oct. Nest purse-like, with porch, ornamented with scraps of bark, paper and caterpillar frass, and attached to twig over stream, or suspended from bush or exposed roots along earth cuttings in hilly country. Clutch 1–3 eggs, white or cream, with brown or reddish-brown speckling, occasionally almost completely covered with brown suffusion of varying intensity. No other information.

Not assessed. Restricted-range species: present in Western Ghats EBA. Common. Range possibly extends farther S, as reported from Nilgiris and presence suspected elsewhere in Kerala, but confirmation required.