The eastern double-collared sunbird (''Cinnyris mediocris'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in upland areas of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and northern

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

Description

The eastern double-collared sunbird is a small species. The adult male has upper parts a metallic green, dark wings and tail, and a red breast band and olive belly. The beak is strongly curved and used to sip

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

from flowers. The adult female is olive above, with brown on the wings and yellowish-green underparts.

Distribution and habitat

The eastern double-collared sunbird is native to mountainous regions of Kenya and northern Tanzania. It is found in forests,

upland pasture Upland pasture (rough grazing and/or semi-natural rough grazing) is a type of semi-natural grassland located in uplands of rolling foothills or upon higher slopes, greater than 350 meters (1148.29 feet) and less than 600 meters (1968.50 feet) from ...

, heathland and bamboo, at altitudes of between . It descends to lower altitudes after the breeding season.

Ecology

The eastern double-collared sunbird feeds alone or in pairs, or may join small flocks of mixed species, which are often led by the

white-headed wood hoopoe The white-headed wood hoopoe (''Phoeniculus bollei'') is a species of bird in the family Phoeniculidae. Etymology The bird's scientific species name ''bollei'' honors Carl August Bolle (1821-1909), a German naturalist and collector. Subspecie ...

(''Phoeniculus bollei''). It feeds on nectar, insects, spiders and small molluscs; the insects include flies,

neuroptera The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera can be grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera in th ...

ns and

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

ns. Flying ants may be caught on the wing, prey invertebrates are picked off the backs of leaves, and

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s are explored acrobatically to extract nectar.

Status

The eastern double-collared sunbird is a common species within its range. The population trend is thought to be steady, no particular threats have been identified and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3179745 eastern double-collared sunbird Birds of East Africa eastern double-collared sunbird Taxonomy articles created by Polbot