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Gold By Name And Gold By Color, This Bird Only Wears His Special Suit Of Brilliant Copper At Certain Times Of The Year – Meet The Golden-Winged Sunbird!

Gold by name, this stunning bird is certainly gold by color, wearing a brilliant metallic reddish-copper sheen seen only at certain times of the year.

Meet the Golden-winged sunbird

Photo Courtesy of Steve Garvie / CC BY 2.0

The golden-winged sunbird (Drepanorhynchus reichenowi), is a species of bird in the Nectariniidae family. The male of this species is about 9 inches long with long central tail feathers. During the breeding season, his body feathers are a shining metallic reddish-copper color, replaced by black when in non-breeding condition. His belly is brownish-black.

Photo Courtesy of Francesco Veronesi/CC BY-SA 2.0

The female is about 6 inches long, with an olive color on her upperparts and yellowish below.

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Subtle shades of yellow and black combine beautifully on this bird to create a stunning hypnotic effect of shimmering gold!

Juveniles are similar to the female, though their bellies are darker.

Photo Courtesy of Dominic Sherony/CC BY-SA 2.0

The Golden-winged Sunbird is a nomadic species, in that it follows its food supply in its resident countries of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

This bird lives in forest verges and clearings, in cultivated areas, bamboo forest, and tall grassland dining on nectar, especially from the mint Leonotis nepetifolia flowers. However, they also dine on nectar from other flowers and eat insects, such as beetles, flies, ants, and wasps, and larvae.

During the breeding season, a purse-like nest is built with the female incubating the eggs laid within. The male steps in to help once the chicks have hatched, helping the female to feed the young.

Due to its extensive range, the Golden-winged sunbird’s population has not been estimated.

This is also the reason it is not thought to be endangered and is considered as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Watch a short video of this bird right here below:

H/T Wikipedia – Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

A Brilliant Iridescent Light Green Bird That Looks More Than A Little Flamboyant As He Jauntily Flaunts His Pointed, Orange Crest, And Snow White Speed Stripe!

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