Bird of the Week – Gurney’s sugarbird

A locally common resident from the Eastern Cape and inland KZN, along the Drakensberg Escarpment to the Limpopo province.

Local movement determined on flowering plants and winter altitudinal temperatures. These sugarbirds like montane scrub with protea and aloes. Apart from nectar, they also feed on insects which they hawk in flight. They often perch on top of a bush or tree, their flight is fast with the long tail streaming out behind. They do a flip jump when alighting or leaving their perch.

Part of their wing makes a loud frrrr in flight. Their call is a rapid high pitched jumble of twittery and twanging notes. Breeding season is June to February. Their nest is a neat shallow cup of stems, twigs, grass and bark fibres, compactly lined by brown protea fluff and fine grass. They use the multiple fork or old inflorescent of a protea bush, but ia always well hidden. Usually two cream, buff or pale brownish spotted eggs are laid. The incubation and nestling periods are unrecorded. There is no tribal name and in Afrikaans die rooiborssuikervoel.

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