Meet the Nile Valley Sunbird
The Nile Valley Sunbird (Hedydipna metallica) is a bird measuring 17 cm (6¾ in) with a long decurved bill. Breeding males have a 5 cm long fork-shaped tail. He also has a metallic dark green head and a violet blue back with yellow underparts.
“DSC_0655” by RachidH is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Non-breeding males lose their tales and have plumage similar to the female, though some retain black patches that the females do not have.
Females themselves have yellow-brown upperparts and a less vibrant yellow belly.
This bird is found in and is endemic to Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen.
“Nile Valley Sunbird” by Brendan A Ryan (cropped) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
These birds are familiar birds in the gardens of Jeddah and Taif, Khmis mushayt, and Abha in western Saudi Arabia. In dry acacia scrubs in wadies and planes of the eastern coast of the red sea and at juniper woodlands at the high altitude (2500m) mountains of Asir and Yemen.
These birds prefer to dine on nectar from a wide variety of flowers but they will also take arthropods from time to time.
By February the male is transformed into a glossy green extrovert with a brilliant sulfur-yellow belly and long tail streamers that add about an extra five centimeters to his length. Once transformed, he will be puffing up and parading his newfound finery and courting his duller mate. The display includes a hovering, accompanied by body rocking and wing-whirring. Egg laying is between April and May in Egypt and January and November in Sudan The nest is built by both sexes, it is an elongated ovoid structure 9–12 cm tall, and 5 cm wide.
The Nile Valley Sunbird is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category.
“Nile Valley Sunbird Hedydipna metallica” by nik.borrow is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
You can watch and listen to this bird right here in the video below:
