Purple-naped sunbird

Hypogramma hypogrammicum

SUBFAMILY

Nectariniinae

TAXONOMY

Hypogramma hypogrammicum S. Muller, 1843, Sumatra and Borneo. Five subspecies.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: Blue-naped sunbird; French: Souimanga strié German: Streifennektarvogel; Spanish: Nectarina de Nuca Azul.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

6 in (15 cm); male 0.27–0.54 oz (7.8–15.2 g); female 0.34–0.48 oz (9.7–13.5 g). Medium-length bill with red eye and streaked yellowish underparts. Purple nape and rump with olive head, wings, and tail.

DISTRIBUTION

H. h. hypogrammicum: Sumatra and Borneo; H. h. lisettae: northern Myanmar, northern Thailand, northern and central Indochina, and western Yunnan; H. h. mariae: Cambodia and southern Indochina; H. h. natunense: northern Natuna Islands;H. h. nuchale: southern Myanmar, southern Thailand, and peninsular Malaysia.

HABITAT

Forests, plantations, swamps, and gardens.

BEHAVIOR

Usually keeps under cover, feeding up to 16 ft (5 m) high in trees. Fans and flicks tail.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Takes nectar from gingers and other plants. Also feeds on small fruits, seeds, small insects, and spiders.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Lays two or three whitish eggs with lilac wash and gray and black lines and blotches in ball- or pear-shaped shaped nest made of grass or of bark, lichen, moss, and leaves, held together with cobwebs.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened. Common in parts of Laos, Sumatra, and Borneo, but uncommon elsewhere.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.