Sunbirds are strongly sexually dimorphic, with males sporting flashy, iridescent plumage and females more subdued in coloration. Like hummingbirds and the honeyeaters of Australia, sunbirds feed on nectar, and they share some physical similarities, but they are not related.

Beautiful sunbirds are tiny, barely reaching four inches in length, with the breeding male’s “tail streamers” adding another few inches to its body length. Find out more!

While the beautiful sunbird of the Old World fills a similar ecological niche as the New World hummingbird, the groups are only distantly related.

The beautiful sunbird and its fast and fickle feeding style resembles the hummingbird with its small, colorful, compact body, its ability to hoover, and its long, downward-curving bill, but they rarely hang in space to feed and instead perch on branches or suspend from flowers while consuming nectar. Furthermore, the beauties extract nectar by sucking with their tubular tongue, while the hummers lick the nectar from the flower. Their relatives include spiderhunters and flowerpeckers.

They have a well-rounded diet of nectar, insects, spiders, and the flesh of fruits and berries. Experts say these birds visit flowers of more than 20 different plant genera, including acacia, aloe, jacaranda, and lantana. They typically forage singly and occasionally in small groups. Males chase intruders away from nectar sources in their territory.

Nests are constructed by female sunbirds. They are compact, purse-shaped shelters suspended from tree branches with a single central entrance. A variety of fibers are used in nest construction, including bark, twigs, dried grass, leaves, vegetable down, plants stems, feathers, and snakeskin. It is tightly bound with spider’s silk, especially at the entrance and where it is attached to a branch.