Scarlet-tufted sunbird

For the bird alternatively named scarlet-tufted sunbird, see Fraser's sunbird, Deleornis fraseri
Scarlet-tufted sunbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Nectariniidae
Genus: Nectarinia
Species: N. johnstoni
Binomial name
Nectarinia johnstoni
Shelley, 1885

The scarlet-tufted sunbird (Nectarinia johnstoni) is a species of bird in the Nectarinia genus of the Nectariniidae family. It is found in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. It is also known as the red-tufted sunbird and the scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird.[2]

It is found at very high altitudes in the Afroalpine Rwenzori-Virunga montane moorlands and East African montane moorlands, though also found at lower altitudes. Its normal range is on several disjunct areas of montane forest and moorland between 3,000 and 4,500 metres in altitude, which encompasses a number of zones of vegetation. It is especially associated with giant lobelia, feeding on the nectar and insects on the plants, and using them as song-posts. At lower altitudes it feeds on Protea and other plants.[3]

The males have long tails, up to about 20cm, and pectoral tufts up to about 10 mm wide.[4]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nectarinia johnstoni.
  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Nectarinia johnstoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Nectarinia johnstoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  3. ↑ Mann, Clive F., Cheke, Robert A., Sunbirds: A Guide to the Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters and Sugarbirds of the World, p. 256, 2010, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 1408135671, 9781408135679, No. 98, google books
  4. ↑ Mann and Cheke, p. 256
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