Sunbirds are a group of vibrantly colorful small birds from the Old World continents, with about 60 species distributed from Africa to Southeast Asia, Australia, and Indonesia. They are vaguely analogous to the hummingbirds of the New World (North and South America) although they are not very closely related. Sunbirds feed mainly upon flowering plant nectars, pollen, insects drawn to the flowers, and fruits. Shown here are three species, the southern double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus), the malachite sunbird (Nectarinia famosa), and the orange collared sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea).

This southern double-collared sunbird is visiting a yellow-flowering candelabra aloe (Aloe arborescens) at Cape Town’s magnificent Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. This aloe is usually orange-red in floral coloration but these yellow variants have been planted in the gardens as well, where they add horticultural interest to these world-class gardens.

Another southern double-collared sunbird, native to the Cape Region of South Africa, feeding upon a red plum tree. These birds were observed feeding in the gardens at our guest house B&B in the town of Oudtshoorn, Western Cape.

The double-collared feathers of the plumage is displayed nicely here.

This is a female sunbird, but I can’t tell which species. They are much more drab than the males are, as is common with birds.

Malachite sunbirds range from Ethiopia to South Africa. This one is perching in the red foliage of a plum tree in the town of Oudtshoorn.

An orange-breasted sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea, aka Nectarinia violacea) extracts nectar from a rare marsh pagoda bush (Mimetes hirtus). Both of these organisms are endemic to the fynbos regions of far southwestern South Africa, but the Mimetes is restricted to just the Cape Peninsula and nearby southern coast just to the east, whereas the sunbird is more widespread. This is one of my favorite bird images that I’ve ever taken.

A Cape sugarbird feeds on a pincushion flower at the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens near Betty’s Bay, Western Cape, South Africa.

There are other nectivorous birds in South Africa, including the Cape sugarbird (Promerops cafer) which is also endemic to the Cape Region. Sugarbirds favor fynbos habitats with large numbers of plants that are in the protea family (Proteaceae) and are adapted to feed heavily upon them. In turn they are primary pollinators of the proteoid plants, especially the king protea (Protea cynaroides) and pincushion flowers (Leucospermum cordifolium). Despite their somewhat narrow dietary requirements and reliance upon proteaceous plants, they adapt well to suburban and urban settings and are readily attracted to garden specimens of these plants as well as other flowers and feeders.

A Cape sugarbird probes a Leucospermum flower for nectar and any spare insects. The birds eat both types of food. The yellow underparts near the tail are diagnostic for the species as well and both sexes have them.

It is of interest to note that sunbirds are not really related to hummingbirds despite their similar lifestyles as primarily nectivores. Hummingbirds are native only to the Americas, and taxonomically they are in a very unique class of their own when you consider their many highly-specialized anatomical adaptations – which among other things includes their well-known ability to hover in place completely stationary and with great precision. Sunbirds are unable to hover in place and must land upon their flowers in order to feed. As a result of this, sunbird-pollinated flowers must be fairly large, sturdy, and tough in order to withstand the weight of the birds. It’s not that sunbirds are very large (most weigh less than 60 grams/two ounces) but they are still much larger and heavier than insects are, and as such the flowers they favor reflect that.

By comparison many hummingbird flowers are much smaller and thinner because they do not need to bear the weight of even a tiny hummer. These flowers also are often borne at the tips of plant stems, or are in thin racemes or spikes, and many tropical species dangle from vines or beneath the foliage. Since hummingbirds can hover mid-air, they can access flowers in such positions quite easily. By comparison the sunbird-  and sugarbird-adapted plants usually have large aggregated heads, a flat or rounded shape for easy landing, or sturdy spikes with hundreds of florets that have places where the birds can cling with their feet and claws.

However bird-pollinated plants do have some commonalities, despite the differences based upon the physical traits of their avian cohorts. Both American and African bird-attracting plants tend to have tubular floral structures, with exserted anthers designed to dab pollen onto the foreheads, faces, and bills of their bird visitors. These highly mobile creatures can easily transfer pollen between even distant plants and thereby facilitate sexual outcrossing, which increases genetic diversity. The receptive pistil floral parts are also often prominently exserted to receive the pollen from their avian visitors. Birds see the colors at the longer-wavelength end of the spectrum very well and many bird-pollinated flowers are red or orange as a result. And additionally it is worth noting that the long, thin, and often curved bills of sunbirds, sugarbirds, and hummingbirds are well-designed by evolution over time to feed upon the nectar provided by plants in exchange for the favor of pollen transfer.

Sugarbirds have very long tails, which is a unique feature of the species and makes them easy to identify at a distance. Male tail feathers are nearly twice as long as those of this female bird, but otherwise the plumage between the sexes is fairly similar.