There are 21 species of sunbird in Southern Africa, and nine of them can be found in the Highway area.
The Collared Sunbird is one of the more common species and appears to tolerate humans better than most sunbirds as it will allow you to get very close to it before it dashes off.
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Description
This is a tiny bird at just over 10cm in length and 8g in weight. As with all sunbirds, this species is sexually dimorphic, ie, the males and females have distinctly different-coloured feathers.
Both male and female have a metallic-green back and yellow belly, but the male also has a green throat and purple breast band, both of which are missing on the female which is generally a bit duller.
Distribution
In South Africa, it is found along the eastern parts of the country from George northwards through to the Limpopo Province.
Habitat
The Collared Sunbird’s favourite habitats are evergreen forests, riparian forests, and thick, thorny bush areas. It is also very common in most gardens in the Highway area, particularly those with nectar-producing plants such as aloes and tree fuchsias (Halleria lucida). They are resident throughout the year but more frequently spotted in the winter months when they feed on nectar.
Feeding
Although they love nectar, they mainly feed on small insects which they pick from leaves with their short but very sharp beak. When feeding on nectar, they have been known to pierce the base of a flower and then suck out the nectar, and this can occur without any pollination of the plant taking place.
Collared Sunbirds feed in mixed-species flocks where they find safety in numbers.
Breeding
Collared Sunbirds are monogamous and pair for life. The nest is built by the female only and is a somewhat untidy ‘ball’ with a side entry, which hangs on the ends of a branch on a shrub or young tree. The female lays up to four eggs, and it takes about two weeks for the chicks to hatch. The male provides food for the chicks, but feeding is done almost exclusively by the female.
Predators and threats
This is not a threatened species but is vulnerable to deforestation for human housing developments or agriculture. The nest is sometimes parasitised by Klaas’s Cuckoo which is a bit odd as the cuckoo is somewhat larger.
Local information
Quite common in the Highway Area and can be spotted in most gardens where there is nectar available. They also often ‘fight’ their own image on windows!
Interesting facts
Collared Sunbirds are known to often build their nests very close to wasp nests. It is thought that this may be a way of keeping monkeys away from the nest.
The Collared Sunbird is not a great musician. They can be quite loud, making ‘cherreee’, ‘tsweet-tsweet’, ‘tsewrew’ and ‘tserp-tserp’ sounds. The in-flight call is a repetitive ‘tsk-tsk’, and the courtship call is a high-pitched ‘chi-chi’.
