Pygmy Sunbird Hedydipna platura Scientific name definitions

Male 9–16 cm (including tail), female 8–9 cm; 5·7–7 g. Small sunbird with short decurved bill. Male in breeding plumage has crown and upperparts metallic green with bronzy or coppery red sheen, ­metallic purplish-blue rump and uppertail-coverts; lesser upperwing-coverts and outer margins of inner median and greater coverts metallic green, remiges dark brown; tail black, tinge of steel-blue gloss, central pair of rectrices protruding 55–80 mm beyond the rest and with racquet-shaped widening at tips; chin to upper breast metallic green, tinged bronzy, otherwise bright yellow below, flanks and undertail-coverts paler, occasionally a thin violet strip below green of lower throat; axillaries black or greyish-black, mixed with yellow, especially on shafts; iris black or dark brown; bill and legs black. Distinguished from H. metallica mainly by lacking or having very narrow violet band on upper breast, rather than a broad blue-purple band. Non-breeding male (eclipse plumage) loses elongated central rectrices, resembles female, but metallic green on wing-coverts and black underwing feathers retained, and some green may remain on body, uppertail-coverts and throat, on latter forming bib. Female lacks tail streamers and metallic plumage, is greyish-brown above, washed olive on rump, with wings, wing-coverts and back brown (back paler), rump pale greenish-yellow, tail very dark brown, tinged dark blue; broad buff stripe over eye; pale yellow below, throat paler, flanks greenish, axillaries and inner underwing-coverts pale yellow, others white, iris brownish-black, faint pale eyering. Juvenile male is initially as female, but soon acquires bright yellow on underparts and some metallic green in plumage; immature female has grey throat, otherwise grey-brown below, eyestripe yellowish.

W & S Mauritania and Senegal E to Sudan and W Ethiopia, S to N Guinea, N Ivory Coast, N Cameroon, NE DRCongo and Uganda; occasionally NW Kenya.

Dry acacia (Acacia) woodland, thorn-scrub, savanna woodland and Sahelian vegetation; also visits gardens.

Resident or partial migrant in far N of range (e.g. Aïr, in Niger). In W Africa moves S from the Sahel to breed in savanna areas (Oct–Apr), returning N with beginning of rains (Mar–May); thus only a dry-season visitor in most of S range. Those breeding in DRCongo late Dec to Mar possibly come from Sudan.

Nectar, pollen, acacia petals; also insects, including ants (Formicidae), and spiders (Araneae). Visits many flowering plants such as aloes (Aloe), acacia, neemtrees (Azadirachta), cotton trees (Bombacaceae), flame trees (e.g. Delonix regia) and mistletoes (Loranthaceae). Forages singly, in pairs and in family parties; sometimes associates with mixed-species groups. Hovers at flowers; also hangs upside-down to feed.

Song 3–4 seconds long, consisting of such phrases as "pseu-pseu-pseu-der-dzer-dzer" or "ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti" or "pserr-pserr-pserr" or "pser-eee" and some trilling, repeated every 10 seconds. Male contact call "cheek-cheek", and similar "cheek" call by nest-building female; other calls include "twee-weet", "tsuup-tsuup-tsuup" and "tsei".

Nests in dry season, laying Jan–Mar and Aug–Sept in Mauritania, Feb–Mar and Sept in Senegambia, Feb–Mar in Burkina Faso and Togo, Dec in Niger, Dec–Apr in Nigeria, Feb in Cameroon and DRCongo, Feb–May in Sudan, and Oct and Dec in E Africa; occasionally double-brooded. Territorial male displays by bowing to female, cocking tail and drooping wings. Nest, built by female, an oval structure 85–100 mm tall, 45–53 mm wide and up to 62 mm deep, with entrance 30 mm wide and short porch (25 mm), made of grass, leaves and feathers held together with spider webs, lined with vegetable matter, decorated externally with dead leaves, seeds and cocoons (but no dangling "beard"), placed 1·5–4 m above ground in body of thorn bush (e.g. Acacia, Bougainvillea, Balanites, Dichrostachys). Clutch 1–2 eggs, glossy white or sky-blue; incubation by female alone, period 14 days; chicks fed by both parents, nestling period 12–15 days; both parents also attend to fledglings.

Not globally threatened. Common and widespread throughout most of range. Occurs in several protected areas, e.g. Comoé National Park, in Ivory Coast, and Waza National Park, in Cameroon.