The magnificent sunbird (''Aethopyga magnifica'') is a striking

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of bird in the

sunbird Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...

family. It is endemic to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

found in the

Visayan Visayans ( Cebuano: ''mga Bisayà'' ) are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, to the southernmost islands south of Luzon, and to a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous di ...

islands of

Negros Island Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral T ...

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of Il ...

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

Tablas Island Tablas is the largest of the islands that comprise the province of Romblon in the Philippines. The name of the island is of Spanish origin. Before the colonization of the Philippines, Tablas was known as the Island of ''Osigan''. At the time of ...

and

Romblon Romblon (, , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main components include Romblon, an archipelagic municipality of the same name that also serves as the provi ...

. It was considered a subspecies of the

crimson sunbird The crimson sunbird (''Aethopyga siparaja'') is a species of bird in the sunbird family which feed largely on nectar. They may also take insects, especially when feeding their young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species ca ...

Description and taxonomy

EBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project e ...

describes the bird as "A stunning small bird of lowland and foothill scrub and gardens in the western Visayas. Male has a bright red head, back, and chest, a purple forehead, a broadening purple mustache stripe, a purple tail, black wings and belly, and a bright yellow patch on the lower back. Similar to Purple-throated, but larger; male lacks the purple throat, and female is mainly olive with distinctive reddish wings and tail. Call is a repeated high-pitched ''chik''. This species was once conspecific with the

Crimson sunbird The crimson sunbird (''Aethopyga siparaja'') is a species of bird in the sunbird family which feed largely on nectar. They may also take insects, especially when feeding their young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species ca ...

but differs with its larger size. Males of the Magnificent sunbird differ with its black belly and purplish tails while females are much darker.

Ecology and behavior

Feed largely on

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

, although they will also take

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, especially when feeding young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time. Breeds from February to June. Nest is bag shaped with roofed entrance made of roots, grass, plant fibers woven with spider webs. This nest is typically low and well concealed and close to large tree trunks. Clutch size is typically 2 to 3 reddish brown eggs with brownish red spotting and scribbles.

Habitat and conservation status

It is found in fruiting and flowering trees in primary, secondary and cultivated areas up to 1000 masl. IUCN has assessed this bird as

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

with the population trend being assessed as stable. This is due to the species being able to tolerate degraded forest and cultivated areas unlike other forest specialists.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15707861

magnificent sunbird The magnificent sunbird (''Aethopyga magnifica'') is a striking species of bird in the sunbird family. It is endemic to the Philippines found in the Visayans, Visayan islands of Negros Island, Panay, Cebu, Tablas Island and Romblon. It was consi ...

Endemic birds of the Philippines Birds of Cebu Birds of Negros Island Birds of Panay Fauna of Marinduque