Beautiful Sunbird (Cinnyris pulchellus) Fact Sheet: Behavior & Ecology

• Diurnal (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Active, mobile, conspicuous (Fry et al. 2000)
• Search for plants in bloom within their territories (Elphick 2014)
• Regularly preen [sunbird, general] (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Some sunbirds bathe in birdbaths [sunbird, general] (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• May sleep for most of the night, similar to other sunbirds (Wellmann and Downs 2009)

Fry et al. 2000; Cheke et al. 2001; Cheke and Mann 2008; Borrow and Demey 2014; Dowsett-Lemaire and Dowsett 2014; Elphick 2014

• Largely resident, esp. in mid-latitudes
• Seasonal movements: often with rains to breed or in response to food supply
• North with rains (March-April)
• South in dry season (September-October)
• Nomadic movements or altitudinal shifts in search of flowers
• Mistletoes (e.g., Tapinanthus globiferus Loranthaceae)
• In the Sahelian north, subpopulations may be present in dry season
• Migrate at onset of rains to breed
• Distances traveled by migrating C. pulchellus not reported
• Only migrate within Africa
• Few details available for many sunbirds

Guarding breeding territory

• Males aggressive towards other males (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Display to each other from treetops and other exposed perches (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Show colors of underparts in an “upright pose” (Cheke et al. 2001)
  • Fan tails and point heads upwards (see Courtship Displays)
• Flick wings (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Jerk fanned tails from side-to-side (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• See Territoriality (in Courtship)

Guarding food

• Chase intruders away from flowers in their territory (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Some sunbirds aggressively defend nectar resources from competitors, such as bees [sunbirds, Cinnyris and Nectarinia spp.] (Ollerton and Nuttman 2013; Tropek et al. 2013)
  • Potential to affect movements of insect pollinators (bees, butterflies, moths) (Ollerton and Nuttman 2013)

• Occur singly or more commonly in pairs (Fry et al. 2000; Borrow and Demey 2014; Elphick 2014)
• Small aggregations at feeding sites (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Also small flocks, generally near water (Mackworth-Praed and Grant 1973; Borrow and Demey 2014)

• Vocalize to others in their social group (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Chase one another around food resources (Cheke et al. 2001)
• However, little evidence of resource-partitioning among species (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Maximum group size not known

Vocalizations (Cheke and Mann 2008)

• Range of vocalizations
• Functions
• Communicate with conspecifics
• Announce arrival at foraging sites
• Defend territories
• Advertise to mates
• Communicate with offspring
• Sunbirds in the genus Cinnyris have complex songs compared to other sunbirds' simple ones
• Males mainly sing, but females also sometimes sing [sunbirds, general]

Calls

• Vigorous or repeated
• Chip, tut (Sinclair and Ryan 2010; Borrow and Demey 2014)
• Zit-zit, chip-chip, tsi-chip, or tsick-tsick when feeding (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Je-je-je (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Female call is a one or two syllable note (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Distinct from male call
• Other calls (Fry et al. 2000; Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Annoyance: loud tseu-tseu-tseu-tseu
• Foraging call: weak chip…chip, tseep, or tsk
• Alarm call
• Contact calls by and to chicks (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• More audio samples: Call 1

Songs

• Subdued warble (Mackworth-Praed and Grant 1973; Cheke et al. 2001)
• Variable, high-pitched, jumbled song (Sinclair and Ryan 2010; Borrow and Demey 2014)
• Rapid introductory series of short, similar notes followed by short, high-pitched jingle (e.g., chiupchupchipchitititit) or musical warble (Stevenson and Fanshawe 2002; Sinclair and Ryan 2010; Borrow and Demey 2014)
• Dry, unmusical notes with cyclical quality (Fry et al. 2000)
• C. p. melanogastrus (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Jumbled twittering of incoherent notes
• Audio Sample (bird calls, then sings)
• 30 seconds or more
• C. p. pulchellus (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Rising and falling warble of ti-tsu-tswee or similar, lasting nearly one minute
• Sometimes includes rising series of 3-4 tsi
• May also include rapid che and bursts of chip-chip
• Audio samples of songs: Song 1, Song 2, Song 3, Song 4

• Observed interacting with other sunbird species (Williams 1955; Fry et al. 2000)
• Sunbirds may join other birds to mob potential predators [sunbirds, general] (Cheke and Mann 2008)
• Some sunbirds aggressively defend nectar resources from competitors, such as bees [sunbirds, Cinnyris and Nectarinia spp.] (Ollerton and Nuttman 2013; Tropek et al. 2013)
• Potential to affect movements of insect pollinators (bees, butterflies, moths) (Ollerton and Nuttman 2013)

Flight (Elphick 2014)

• Direct, dashing flight
• Acrobatic, similar to New World hummingbirds

Uncommon behaviors

• Look at their reflection in mirrors, mirrored surfaces, and windows

An adult male Beautiful Sunbird, Cinnyris pulchellus, singing.

Image credit: © Mark Piazzi at Flickr. All rights reserved. Used with permission from the artist.

Image details: Taken 06 June 2011 in Ethiopia.