The sun bird | Facts & Information

Origin

The Sunbird is the only representative of the Eurypygidae family. It is an aquatic bird with a neck similar to the Starling, which is related to the wading bird (Botaurus stellaris) and the dropia. What makes this bird special is the drawing in the form of eyes at the level of the wings. The Sunbird is quite shy and very difficult to locate in the natural environment.

Feeding The Sun Bird

The diet consists of crustaceans, insects, fish, lizards, amphibians and other living things.

The Sunbird hunts in shallow waters, but also on the shore. They probe the shore in search of food. In calm and shallow waters, he enters and calmly walks in search of fish. It hunts like a starling: with its neck and head held back, it triggers the attack extremely quickly when it locates prey. It prefers stony shores, where crystal clear water surrounds the stones. On the edge of the water she steps gently and slowly, being very careful around.

Features Of The Sun Bird

It is the appearance of the plumage that made this bird noticed. The body is long and ends with a sharp, straight tail. The neck is long and curved, like that of the Starling, and the head is thin and sharp. Short, thin and straight legs. It measures about 47cm long.

The head is black, crossed by two horizontal white lines, positioned above and below the eyes, of red color. The long, pointed beak is marked by two colors: upper brownish, and lower Orange. The barn is white. The neck, pipette and back are imbued with black and brown feathers, alternating as in a mosaic. The lower regions are light brown and white.

It is the upper part of the wings that attracts attention when they are opened. At the middle of each wing we have an oval of brown - brown color, bordered by feathers of white and black color. All this drawing is surrounded by a golden area. The large wing feathers also show a brown pattern with black, bordered at the tip by Grey nunates. The tail is predominantly grey, with two horizontal lines made up of the same nunataks as the pattern on the wings. When the bird is infoyed, the two drawings on the wings look like two giant eyes.

Both males and females show the same plumage. Youth is characterized by paler shades.

Breeding The Sunbird

It takes place in spring from March to May. The male conquers the female by slow flights over trees and specific sounds. Both partners build the nest, usually on tree branches near or just above water. The nest consists of sticks, grass and mud. Above the nest is protected by the rich canopy of tropical trees, like an umbrella.

The female lays 1-2 pinkish eggs with gray-purple spots. After a month, by which time both parents have hatched the eggs, the chicks will hatch. The chicks are fed by their two parents, who never leave the nest unattended. At 25 days it is impaneled. Puppies depend on their parents for another 2 months from now. At 1 year they become sexually mature.

This species is not threatened with extinction, although in recent years the herd has been reduced due to habitat destruction. The average life span in captivity is 15 years, in nature it could not be calculated yet.