Field record
Purple-rumped Sunbird
Leptocoma zeylonica
The long still wait on the balcony. It dropped onto the branch an arm’s length away and held for a second.
- Location
- From my balcony, Bangalore
- Coordinates
- 12.97° N · 77.59° E
- Recorded
- Ongoing
Field guideLeast Concern
Strongly sexually dimorphic, the male is iridescent with a metallic blue-green crown and violet rump, the female plain olive-brown above with a white throat and yellow underparts; the species also practises “nectar theft,” piercing the base of flowers too deep to probe.
- Family
- Nectariniidae (sunbirds and spiderhunters)
- Length
- 9–10 cm
- Diet
- Nectar, small insects, and spiders
- Range
- Resident across the Indian subcontinent (southern India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh)