Loten’s sunbirds (Cinnyris lotenius) are small sunbirds , only 12–13 cm long. The long bill separates this from the syntopic purple sunbird.
The adult male is mainly glossy purple with a grey-brown belly.
The female has yellow-grey upperparts and yellowish underparts. The Males of the Sunbirds are so colourful in comparison (except the Spiderhunters) that the Females are often ignored.
The call is distinctive buzzy zwick zwick and they are also very active often bobbing their head while foraging.
They long down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, are adaptations to their nectar feeding. The bill lengths vary across populations with the longest bills are found on the east of Peninsular India and in Sri Lanka.
The song of the male is a long repeated wue-wue-wue… with the last notes accelerated.
Shot in Coorg, August 2026.
The crimson-backed sunbird or small sunbird (Leptocoma minima)
-is a the smallest sunbird of this country
– is endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
-Being small birds they may be killed by attack from insects like praying mantises.
-These birds are important pollinators of some plant species
-Resident in many areas, they may make altitudinal movements in response to rains.
In some areas they move to the foothills during the monsoons and move to the higher regions after the rains.
Shot in Coorg, Aug 2026.
© Dr.Bishan Monnappa.
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