Often near a flowering plant one can see small birds flitting around busily probing the flowers inquisitively. Often these birds are mistaken for hummingbirds because of their rapid flight and hovering behavior, but these are not hummingbirds but their cousins, the Sunbirds. Goa is home to five different species of Sunbirds of which the Vigor’s Sunbird is the largest and most beautiful species in the state.
For long, the Vigor’s sunbird which is endemic to the Western Ghats was considered as a subspecies of the Crimson Sunbird of Himalayas but due to its morphological difference was split and elevated to a species.
The Vigor’s sunbird is sexually dimorphic, that is the male and female look different from each other. Adult male has a metallic green crown and dark crimson neck, back. The rump is bright yellow with the tail metallic green. Chin and throat of the male is bright scarlet with metallic purple malar stripes which starts from the base of the bill to the neck. The female on the other hand is very drab olive all over with a yellowish belly.
This species has a very interesting distribution starting from Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa till south of Narmada River in Gujarat. They generally prefer tropical and moist deciduous habitats and are found commonly in low elevation areas.
The Vigor’s Sunbird is usually found singly, foraging among flowers of a wide range of trees and shrubs, hopping energetically from one flower to another and clinging to branches in all manner of acrobatic positions. It has been noted by Dr. Salim Ali that they sometimes pierce the base of larger flowers like hibiscus and canna to get easy access to the nectar within them. Very often they can be seen hovering in front of flowers like a hummingbird to insert their tongue to lap up the nectar from flowers. It has been noted that this species has an affinity towards bright red and scarlet colored flowers. They are also known to be good pollinators of the flowers that they visit.
The diet of the Vigor’s sunbird chiefly comprises of nectar and sometimes insects. Their call is a very shrill chirping sometimes compared to the opening and closing of a scissor.
International Union for Conservation of Nature has not yet quantified the status of this endemic species yet and hence its conservation status is not known. The Vigor’s sunbird is named after Irish-born zoologist N.A. Vigors by Colonel Sykes who was the ornithologist who described this sub-species.
Image Credit: Rudraksh Chodankar‎
