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Amethyst Sunbird Chalcomitra amethystina Scientific name definitions

Robert Cheke and Clive Mann
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2008

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Field Identification

13–15 cm; male 9·2–18·5g, female 8·3–16·9 g. Male nominate race has iridescent green patch on forehead (sometimes appears silvery light green or gold), pinkish-violet on chin and throat, and coppery-violet on carpals; rest of plumage blackish-brown except for purplish-violet uppertail-coverts and dull black upperwing, primary and greater wing-coverts and tail; some have rudimentary yellow pectoral tufts; iris dark brown; bill and legs black. Female is olive-tinged grey-brown above, slight white supercilium, uppertail-coverts dark brown, tail blackish-brown with greyish-white tips, remiges and greater wing-coverts dark greyish-brown, primaries and secondaries edged buff, paler on primaries, and lesser and median wing-coverts olive-grey; white moustachial stripe, pale grey-brown with heavy mottling below (except on belly), throat often so densely mottled as to appear black (pale moustache then especially obvious), underwing-coverts and axillaries brownish. Juvenile is similar to female but with throat blacker, and underparts more spotted and yellowish, looking barred (not streaked); immature male with iridescent rosy-purple patch on throat. Race deminuta male has shorter bill (24–28 mm) than nominate (25–32 mm), but uppertail-coverts also purplish-violet, female has throat paler, less dusky-looking (feathers lack blackish bases), underparts with variable amounts of yellow and plainer than in nominate, some with hardly any streaking; kirkii is similar to previous (smaller than nominate), but male uppertail-coverts blackish-brown or dull black, lacking metallic purplish-violet. A morph with red instead of violet on throat has been described from South Africa, and a xanthochromic individual with butter-yellow underparts from throat to undertail-coverts from Zimbabwe.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

See C. fuliginosa. Other proposed races are adjuncta from E Swaziland (described from Stegi, in Lebombo Mts), which is synonymized with nominate, and doggetti (Ravine, in W Kenya) and kalckreuthi (Mombasa, in SE Kenya), both merged with kirkii. Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies


SUBSPECIES

Chalcomitra amethystina kirkii Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SE South Sudan, NE Uganda, Kenya, Somalia (Jubba Valley), Tanzania, Burundi, E and S Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique (S to Coguna) and Zimbabwe.

SUBSPECIES

Chalcomitra amethystina deminuta Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SE Gabon, S Congo, W and SE DRCongo, Angola, Namibia, N and W Zambia and N Botswana.

SUBSPECIES

Chalcomitra amethystina amethystina Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E Botswana, S Mozambique (S of R Limpopo), Swaziland and E and S South Africa (Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal S to S coastal Western Cape).

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Savanna woodlands, forest edge, gardens and hillsides with many flowering aloes (Aloe) and proteas (Protea).

Movement

Primarily resident. Partial migrant locally: influx from W in Zimbabwe in May–Aug, and visible migration to E in Botswana, where scarcer Jun–Sept. Ringing recoveries of up to 120 km in S Africa. Influxes in Tanzania (Iringa and Songea) in Apr–Oct.

Diet and Foraging

Insects, including emergent termites (Isoptera); also spiders (Araneae), and nectar. A multitude of known foodplants, including species of genera Acacia, Aloe, Abutilon, Baikiaea, Bauhinia, Burchellia, Bombax, Caesalpina, Cassia, Combretum, Disa, Diospyros, Erythrina, Eucalyptus, Euphorbia, Grevillea, Hibiscus, Kniphofia, Leonotis, Protea, Prunus, Salvia, Strelitzia, Syzygium and Tecoma, and mistletoes (Loranthaceae). Hawks insects in manner of a flycatcher (Muscicapidae); also hovers in front of flowers. Gleans leaves for aphids (Aphidoidea) and takes spiders from webs. Also probes fallen fruit, and drinks oozing coconut sap.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Complex song consists of ascending and descending rapid twittering, including sequences of “chip-chip-chip-chee” or “der-chip-cher-chu”; female also warbles and pair-members perform duets. Common call note a single “chip” or “tschiek”, other calls include “chup” (but not the “choop” of C. senegalensis), also “zit-zit” and “zeebe-zeebu”, “tzwit-tzuit-zit” and similar, also both “chip” and “chop, chip-chop, cher-chip” or “cher-chop” or “chip-chip” or “ptcher-chiiizzz” ending with wheeze; “chee, chee, chee, chee” or “ssweek-ssweeek-ssweeek” during courtship chases; alarm calls include “t,t,t,t,t,t…” or “jit-jit-jit-jit…” or “choy, tit-choy, tit-chree”. Makes sounds also by clicking mandibles.

Breeding

Laying recorded in May, Oct and Dec in Angola, Feb and Sept–Nov in DRCongo, Aug in Somalia, throughout year in E Africa (Sept–Mar and Jun–Jul in Tanzania), Sept–Feb and Apr in Malawi, Aug–Mar in Zambia, Jul–Apr in Zimbabwe, Oct, Nov, Jan and Mar in Botswana, Jan in Mozambique, and all months in South Africa; often double-brooded. Courting male chases female, continuously harasses her, and courtship dance involves hopping, drooping each wing in turn, then both simultaneously, and then fluttering each one; female hangs head down and remains motionless; cloaca-pecking recorded. Nest built by female alone, pear-shaped and sometimes “bearded”, side entrance with marked porch, constructed from fine grass, fibres, wool, hair, bark and cobwebs, adorned externally with leaves, bark, bits of wood and lichen, lined with white plant material, feathers or flower petals, suspended 2–6 m above ground from tree, clothes line, electric flex or bare wire. Clutch 1–4 eggs, usually 2, whitish to greenish or light grey, densely covered with spots, mottles, streaks and lines of dark brown, olive-brown or grey, usually denser at wider end; incubation by female alone, period 13–18 days; chicks fed by both sexes, nestling period up to 17 days; both parents feed newly fledged young. Nests parasitized by Klaas’s Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas), African Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx cupreus) and Eastern Green-backed Honeyguide (Prodotiscus zambesiae).
Not globally threatened. Has only very small and limited ranges in Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. Common in most of rest of range. Status uncertain in SE Ethiopia; only three sight records, all in need of corroboration. Occurs in several protected areas, e.g. Arusha and Mikumi National Parks, in Tanzania, and Dzalanyama Reserve and Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary, in Malawi.
Distribution of the Amethyst Sunbird - Range Map
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Distribution of the Amethyst Sunbird

Recommended Citation

Cheke, R. and C. Mann (2020). Amethyst Sunbird (Chalcomitra amethystina), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.amesun2.01
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