Nectariniidae & Meliphagidae

Nectariniidae

This is a large, mainly tropical and subtropical Old World family of 132 species, distributed from Africa through South and Southeast Asia, and as with the previous family (flowerpeckers), only a few species occur beyond Weber’s Line, in New Guinea and Australia. However, the atypical Spiderhunters, like the forktails, are restricted to the Oriental region. With their nectar-feeding habits, small size and mostly brightly coloured, often iridescent, plumage, the sunbirds resemble the famous hummingbirds (Trochilidae) of the New World, and some species regularly hover in front of flowers to complete this analogy. However their long bills are downcurved, more like those of the honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) of Australasia and Pacific islands. Moreover, like honeyeaters but unlike hummingbirds, sunbirds extract nectar by sucking it along a tubular, brush-tipped tongue, but have no crop in which to store it, forcing them to feed frequently. Their foreheads are often discoloured by the pollen of the flowers they probe, and as such, sunbirds play an important role in plant pollination. Insects are also regularly eaten to satisfy protein requirements. Sexual dimorphism is pronounced in sunbirds, but almost absent in the spiderhunters. Like flowerpeckers and gerygones, sunbirds suspend their domed, purse- or flask-shaped nests from twigs, whereas the spiderhunters are unique in attaching their cup-shaped nest to the underside of a leaf. Java host eight species of sunbird and four species of spiderhunters. Two sunbirds are endemic to the island, and both avoid the lowlands. Six species of this family are found in Baluran .

Flight: Direct with fast wing beats; often hover in front of flowers or spiders’ webs, to glean insects and spiders rather than access nectar.

Dengar Suaranya

*Burung Madu Kelapa (song)

*Burung Madu Belukar (call)