Purple Sunbird

Sitting on a roof-top in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar just off Chengam Road one kilometre west of Ramana Nagar, I noticed this beautiful Purple Sunbird enjoying his perch on an electricity pole.

Purple Sunbird on Electricity Pole

The Purple Sunbird (Nectarinia Asiatica) is small (about the size of a sparrow) with a slender, curved bill and a tubular tongue, which is well adapted for feeding on the nectar of flowers The male Purple Sunbird has two distinct types of plumage. The breeding male is characterised by the metallic bluish-black body, and the tuft of crimson and yellow feathers under each wing. In contrast, the non-breeding male Purple Sunbird has a much duller ‘eclipse’ plumage resembling the female, with yellow underparts and a dark line of feathers running down the centre of the throat and breast.

The female is a brown to olive-brown above, pale dull yellow below – but with darker wings and a broad black stripe running down middle of breast.

Mature Male Purple Sunbird

This bird which is common throughout Tiruvannamalai District prefers gardens, gardens, cultivated and scrub country and also light deciduous forest.

Its diet consists mostly of flower nectar as can be ascertained from its long, curved beaked, which is adapted for probing and sucking flower nectar. However the bird also feasts on insects and spiders and fruits.

This bird is often seen in pairs or small groups in which as many as 40 to 50 individuals have sometimes been noted.

Purple Sunbird Immature Male

A sharp monosyllabic 'wich, wich' uttered as it flits about This species is known to defend its territory by singing and chasing intruders.

In courtship displays the male raises its head, fans its tail and flutters with partly open wings that expose the pectoral tufts and sings before the female.

Female Sunbird

Purple Sunbird Male Molting

Sunbird in Flight

Nesting season flexible mostly March to May.The nest is a pouch made of cobwebs, thin strips of vegetation, lichens and bark. The entrance hole on the side is often shaded by a overhanging projection. The nest is built almost entirely by the female. The nest material is not woven and most of it is held together by cobwebs. About five to ten days may be taken in the building of the nest. The inner cavity is expanded by the bird by openings its wing and turning around on the inside.

Male Purple Sunbird
feeding young in nest

Only the female builds the nest and incubates the eggs which hatch after 15 to 17 days. There are usually 2 or 3 greyish or greenish white eggs marked with various shades of brown and grey. Males assist in feeding the chicks although females involve themselves to a greater extent, making more trips as the chicks get older.

Purple Sunbird feeding on Nectar

Black Drongo

There are nine species of Drongo and all of them come in wholly glistening black plumage except for two whose names are suggestive of the slight difference, that is, the white-bellied Drongo and the ashy-Drongo. In body size, they are all comparable to the Dove but with a much longer tail, ending in a deep, wide fork. The variety most particularly associated with Tiruvannamalai District is the Black Drongo. A dark red iris and a white beauty spot, the size of an aspirin tablet, between the eyes and the beak distinguish it from others of his species.

Photos of the Black Drongo

Drongo rolling for ants

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Nesting Habits of the Black Drongo

The Black Drongo Dicrurus Macrocercus (Tamil=Karuvattu Vali) or Common King-Crow lays (throughout India) in April, August, but primarily in May, June and July.

The bird builds its nest in a fork of a tree, generally 10-30 feet from the ground. The nest of the King-Crow is usually composed of tiny twigs and fine grass-stems, and the roots of khus-khus grass, neatly and tightly woven together, and exteriorly bound round with a good deal of cobweb, in which a few feathers are sometimes entangled; the nest is generally a flimsy concern and the eggs are often visible from below. The cavity is broad and shallow, and at times lined with horsehair or fine grass, but most commonly only with khus. The bottom of the nest is very thin, but the sides or rim rather firm and thick; with cavity around 4 inches in diameter, and about 1½ in depth. This bird lays from between 3-5 eggs varying in size from 0·87 to 1·15 inch, and in breadth from 0·7 to 0·85. With the eggs varying greatly in colour, with some almost a pure white, and others spotted and blotched, especially at the larger end, with claret and light purple on a rich salmon-colored ground

The nest with young

The Drongo is very jealous of the approach of other birds (even of their own species) to a nest in which they have eggs. They are pugnacious to a degree, fearlessly attacking every bird that approaches the tree on which the nest may be. The birds are very noisy in the breeding-season, keeping all intruders off. The bird favours large trees preferably standing alone in the open. The Black Drongo puts Crows and Kites to flight should they venture to plunder bird nests of eggs and hatchlings. So peace-loving birds such as Doves and Mynahs prefer to build their nests directly below those of the Drongo.

Young Drongo experiencing the world!

Adult Drongo with juvenile

The Black Drongo i.e. King-Crow, so conspicuous on the backs of cattle, telegraph-wires, all through the cold and hot seasons, is conspicuous by its absence during the breeding-season. Many of them retire to woods and gardens to breed, but even when they do not, they keep very quiet while they have their nests and hardly ever show themselves out of the tree.

Nice Video of a group of Black Drongos

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I found a very interesting article by a bird lover on a mob Drongo Bird attack on a person. The article is amusing BUT shows just how aggressive and fearless this bird is!

"Drongos Attack!

You’re invited to join me for a morning jog… Just be prepared for a possible attack from above! Actually, possible attack from above, from below, from the right, from the left, and especially from the rear. It’s a bird; it’s a plane-- No! It’s the Black Drongo! The Black Drongo is a large, loud, black bird that has absolutely no fear of humans. To read more. Go to this link>>>