Abyssinian sunbird
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Cinnyris habessinicus, Doho Lodge, Afar, Ethiopia 1.jpg
| image_caption = Male in central Ethiopia
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Cinnyris
| species = habessinicus
| authority = (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828)
| synonyms = Nectarinia habessinica
}}
The Abyssinian sunbird (Cinnyris habessinicus), formerly the shining sunbird, is a species of passerine bird in the sunbird family Nectariniidae. The Arabian sunbird was formerly treated as a subspecies.
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognised:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Dippers, leafbirds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/dippers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=28 December 2024 }}
- C. h. habessinicus (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828) – northeast Sudan, Eritrea and north, central Ethiopia
- C. h. alter Neumann, 1906 – east Ethiopia and north Somalia
- C. h. turkanae Van Someren, 1920 – southeast Sudan, south Ethiopia, south Somalia, north Kenya and northeast Uganda
Two additional former subspecies, C. h. hellmaryi and C. h. kinneari, have now been split as a separate species, the Arabian sunbird C. hellmaryi.
Description
The Abyssinian sunbird is highly dimorphic and has three distinct plumages, juvenile, immature and adult. Adult males in breeding plumage have brilliant metallic green upperparts and throat, a violet or blue crown, a bright red band across the breast with a narrow line of metallic blue, and blue-black wings and tail. The females are brownish-buff, paler below. These small sunbirds mainly feed on nectar and small insects.{{cite journal|author=Williams, J. G. |journal=Condor|volume=57|issue=5|pages=249–262 |title=A systematic revision and natural history of the shining sunbird of Africa|year=1955|url=http://sora.unm.edu/node/100736|doi=10.2307/1364731|jstor=1364731|doi-access=free}}
Distribution and habitat
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id30091/ Biolib]
- [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=8290 Bird Life]
- [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/shining-sunbird-cinnyris-habessinicus/bird-perched-acacia-bush Ibc.lynxeds]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2228229}}
Category:Birds of the Horn of Africa
Category:Birds described in 1828
Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Category:Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
{{Nectariniidae-stub}}