Loten's Sunbird
Loten's sunbird also known as the long-billed sunbird or maroon-breasted
sunbird. The long bill separates this from the syntopic purple sunbird.
Local Names: Tenkili, Valiatenkili (Malayalam)
Pun chittu, Then
chittu (Tamil)
The wings are browner and the maroon breast band is visible on the male. The adult male is mainly glossy purple with a grey-brown belly.
The color of female has no connection to that of male. The female has yellow-grey upperparts and yellowish underparts, but lacks
Purple's faint supercilium.
The long slender deeply arched bill distinctive.
Like other sunbirds, they also feed on small insects and spiders.
The nest is built by the female which may however be accompanied by the
male. Two eggs are laid in a suspended nest in a tree. Eggs-2 ,brownish white with dull brown brown spots. The eggs are
incubated only by the female for about 15 days. The young are fed by both parents, but
when out of the nest fed mostly by male.
References
The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali)
Wikipedia
Pictures:
Thoovampallil house, Chettikulangara, Kerala(2019)
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