W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm
Black Sunbird feeding on the Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker) flowers in my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa).
The Amethyst Sunbird, also called the
Black Sunbird (Chalcomitra amethystine) mainly occurs in Africa south of the equator. Its natural habitat is dry savannah but it is extremely fond of gardens.
It goes out of its way to visit a large clump of nectar-bearing
plants. Here in my garden, it feeds on nectar from the Aloe, Kniphofia,
Halleria lucida (Tree fuchsia) and a nectar mix in one of my bird
feeders. It’s diet is supplemented with insects and often hawks flying
insects from the trees or bushes, also gleaning them from leaves and
branches. Nectar is obtained either from flowers or from garden feeders,
which it uses readily (note that in feeding experiments it was found to
prefer sucrose rather than sugar).
This Sunbird is not threatened, in fact its range has increased recently due to the spread of wooded gardens.
Swartsuikerbekkie [Afrikaans]
.
