This family is comprised of
sunbirds and
spiderhunters. The family is distributed throughout Africa, southern Asia and just reaches northern Australia. The sunbirds have counterparts in two very distantly related groups: the hummingbirds of the Americas and the honeyeaters of Australia. The resemblances are due to convergent evolution due to the similar nectar-feeding lifestyle. The spiderhunters, of the genus
Arachnothera, are distinct in appearance from the other members of the family. They are typically larger than the other sunbirds, with drab brown plumage and long down-curved beaks.
Most sunbirds feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. Fruit is also part of the diet of some species.
Sunbirds have long thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to their nectar feeding. Some species can hover like hummingbirds, but most perch while feeding. Their flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Males are usually quite colorful, partly due to iridescence which can cause them to appear of varied appearance depending on the lighting (thus their name, sunbirds). Females are not iridescencent and thus less colorful. The nests of sunbirds are generally purse-shaped, enclosed, suspended from thin branches with generous use of spiderweb.
Sunbirds and hummingbirds have similar tongues due to convergent evolution. Wikipedia reports the following about hummingbirds; perhaps it also applies to sunbirds." Hummingbirds drink with their tongue by rapidly lapping nectar. Their tongues have tubes which run down their lengths and help the hummingbirds drink the nectar. High-speed photography has revealed that the tubes open down their sides as the tongue goes into the nectar, and then close around the nectar, trapping it so it can be pulled back into the beak.
See also African Sunbirds.
Genus Aethopyga
Sunbird,_Apo Aethopyga boltoni Found:
Image by: 1)
Rob_Hutchinson_Birdtour_Asia 2)
Markaharper 3)
Sylvia_Ramos
1, 2) Female 3) Male
Sunbird,_Black-throated Aethopyga saturata Found: Asia
Image by: 1)
JJ Harrison in Thailand 2)
NatureAtYourBackyard 3) Jason_Thompson
1) Female 2, 3) Male
Sunbird,_Bohol Aethopyga decorosa Found: Philippines
Image by:
1, 2) Neon_Thomas_Rosell
1) Female 2) Male
Sunbird,_Crimson Aethopyga siparaja Found: Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by:
1, 2, 3) Lip Kee - Singakpore 4)
Johnny Wee
1) Female 2, 3, 4) Male
Sunbird,_Elegant Aethopyga duyvenbodei Found: Sangihe, north of Sulawesi (Indonesia)
Image by:
1, 2) John_Gerrard_Keulemans
Sunbird,_Fire-tailed Aethopyga ignicauda Found: Asia
Image by:
1) John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Yann Muzika 3)
Mousam_ray 4)
Dibyendu_Ash
1. 2) Female 3, 4) Male
Sunbird,_Flaming Aethopyga flagrans Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
Desmond_Allen 2)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans
1) Female 2) Male
Sunbird,_Fork-tailed Aethopyga christinae Found: China, Hong Kong, Laos, and Vietnam
Image by: 1)
57Andrew 2, 3, 5, 5, 6)
Charles Lam
1, 2, 3) Female 4, 5, 6) Male
Sunbird,_Gould's Aethopyga gouldiae Found: Asia
Image by:
1. 2, 3) Jason_Thompson - Thailand 3)
Umeshsrinivasan JJ_Harrison
Sunbird,_Gray-hooded Aethopyga primigenia Found:
Image by: 1)
Chris_Chafer 2)
Ramon_Quisumbing 3)
Francesco_Veronesi
Sunbird,_Green-tailed Aethopyga nipalensis Found:
Indian Subcontinent into parts of southeast Asia
Image by: 1)
Duncan_Wright 2)
Dibyendu_Ash 3)
Lip Kee Yap - Nepal 4)
Garima_Bhatia - Bhutan
Sunbird,_Handsome Aethopyga bella Found: the Philippines
Image by:
1, 2) John_Gerrard_Keulemans 3)
Llimchiu 4)
Tonee_Despojo
1) Female 2 - 4 ) Male
Sunbird,_Javan also
Scarlet Sunbird Aethopyga mystacalis Found: Indonesia
Image by: 1)
Bernd_Kirschner 2)
Francesco_Veronesi
Sunbird,_Lina's Aethopyga linaraborae Found: Island of Mindanao in Philippines
Image by:
1, 2) Rob_Hutchinson_Birdtour_Asia
1) Female 2) Male
Sunbird,_Lovely Aethopyga shelleyi Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Rackk67
Sunbird,_Magnificent Aethopyga magnifica Found: Philippines
Image by:
1, 2) John_Gerrard_Keulemans
Sunbird,_Maroon-naped Aethopyga guimarasensis Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
Stijn_De_Win_Birding2asia 2,
3) oespena
1, 2) Female 3) Male
Sunbird,_Metallic-winged Aethopyga pulcherrima Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
Stijn_De_Win_Birding2asia 2)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 3)
Benedict_De_Laender 4)
Francesco_Veronesi
1) Female 2, 3, 4) Male
Sunbird,_Mountain also
Luzon Sunbird Aethopyga jefferyi Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
Pd_Round_The_Wetland_Trust 2)
John Gerrard Keulemans 3)
Yann_Muzika
1) Female 2, 3) Male
Sunbird,_Tboli Aethopyga tibolii Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
Cathy_Liles
Sunbird,Temminck's Aethopyga temminckii Found: Borneo, Sumatra, Malaysia, Thailand
Image by: 1)
Tony_Castro 2)
Caroline_Granycome - Borneo
3, 4) Tom_Tarrant
1) Female 2 , 3, 4) Male
Sunbird,_Vigors's Aethopyga vigorsii Found: Western Ghats of India
Image by:
1, 2) Shrikant_Rao - India
2, 3) Shantanu Kuveskar
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male
Sunbird,_White-flanked Aethopyga eximia Endenmic to Indonesia
Image by:
1, 2, 3) Lip Kee Yap
1) Female 2, 3) Male
Genus Arachnothera
Spiderhunter, Bornean Arachnothera everetti Found: Borneo
Image by: 1)
Winston Pudin
Spiderhunter,_Gray-breasted Arachnothera modesta Found: southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Hiyashi_Haka 3)
Rushen
Spiderhunter,_Little Arachnothera longirostra Found: southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by: 1)
Koshy_Koshy 2)
Lip Kee 3)
Vijay_Ismavel
Spiderhunter, Long-billed Arachnothera robusta Found: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Hiyashi_Haka
Spiderhunter, Naked-faced Arachnothera clarae Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
Llimchiu
Spiderhunter, Orange-tufted Arachnothera flammifera Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans
Spiderhunter, Pale Arachnothera dilutior Found: Philippines
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Rackk67
Spiderhunter, Purple-naped Arachnothera hypogrammicum Found: southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Mustafa_Abdul_Jamil
Spiderhunter, Spectacled Arachnothera flavigaster Found: southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Lip_kee
Spiderhunter,_Streaked Arachnothera magna Found: Asia, Malaysia
Image by: 1)
NatureAtYourBackyard 2)
Hiyashi_Haka - Malaysia
Jason_Thompson - Thailand 4)
Hiyashi_Haka
Spiderhunter,_Streaky-breasted Arachnothera affinis Found: Bali and Java of Indonesia
Image by: 1)
Francesco_Veronesi - West Java
Spiderhunter, Thick-billed Arachnothera crassirostris Found: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand
Image by:
1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Ron_Pudin 3)
Christopher_Hill
Spiderhunter, Whitehead's Arachnothera juliae Found: Borneo
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Jonathan_Soon
Spiderhunter,_Yellow-eared Arachnothera chrysogenys Found: southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by: 1)
John_Gerrard_Keulemans 2)
Mike_Prince
Genus Chalcoparia - 1 species
Sunbird_ Ruby-cheeked Chalcoparia singalensis Found: Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia
Image by:
1,
2) Vijay_Ismavel 3) Francesco_Veronesi - Thailand 4)
Tareq_Uddin_Ahmed - Bangladesh
Genus Cinnyris
This genus has species in
Africa and Asia
Sunbird,_Apricot-breasted Cinnyris buettikoferi Found: Sunda islands (Indonesia)
Image by:
1)
Ron_Knight 2)
Ross_Tsai
Sunbird,_Flame-breasted Cinnyris solaris Found: Indonesia, East Timor
Image by:
1, 2) John_Gerrard_Keulemans 3)
Oleg_Chernyshov
Sunbird,_Loten's also
Long-billed Sunbrid Cinnyris lotenius Found: India, Sri Lanka
Image by:
1, 3) Swardeepak 2)
Hafiz Issadeen 4)
Arshad.ka5
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male
Sunbird,_Olive-backed also
Yellow-bellied Sunbird Cinnyris jugularis Found: southern Asia, Australia
Image by: 1)
Graham_Winterflood - Queensland
2, 4)
Lip Kee Yap - Singapore
3, 5) John Tasirin - Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia 6)
Koshy_Koshy - Nicobar region of India
1, 2, 3) Female 4, 5, 6) Male
Sunbird,_Purple Cinnyris asiaticus Found: Asia
Image by:
1, 5)
J M Garg -India 2)
Lip_Kee 3)
Charles_J_Sharp 4)
Koshy_Koshy
1) Female 2, 3) Eclipse male 4, 5) Breeding male
Genus Leptocoma
Asian sunbirds
Sunbird,_Black Leptocoma sericea Found: New Guinea and vicinity
2) L. s. chlorolaema 3)
1. 2) Female 3) Juvenile male moulting to adult 4) Male