"Tiny Beauty", Southern Double-collared Sunbird Is A Star Of The Forest (8 Photos)

Where the Americas have hummingbirds, the Old World has sunbirds; brightly coloured jewels that flash in the light. The males often wear showy colours which makes identification straightforward while females tend towards the dull and difficult (my non-birding, proof-reading wife has just suggested that I change that last sentence, but you know what I mean).

The male can be distinguished from the similar Greater Double-collared Sunbird by its smaller size, narrower red chest band and shorter bill. The female Southern Double-collared Sunbird has brown upperparts and yellowish-grey underparts. The juvenile resembles the female. The female is greyer below than the female Orange-breasted Sunbird, and darker below than the female Dusky Sunbird.