male; brown-streaked; yellow undertail coverts (South Africa; 2007-06-30)


Cape Sugarbird
Promerops cafer

Native Range: Africa

Notes: sugarbirds (of which there are only two extant species in the family) are long-tailed nectar-feeding birds endemic to southern Africa; they are ecologically quite similar to honeyeaters in Australia but phylogenetically they are distant cousins of sunbirds; this species is confined to the extreme southern tip (Cape region) of Africa where it forages in gardens and coastal scrublands.

extremely long tail is this species' hallmark (South Africa; 2007-06-30)
the long tail even makes flight rather difficult (South Africa; 2007-06-30)

male sitting on a flower (South Africa; 2007-06-30)
long decurved bill for probing flowers for nectar (South Africa; 2007-06-30)

working hard for a sip of nectar (South Africa; 2007-06-30)
this specimen has been leg-banded (South Africa; 2007-06-30)

female; her tail is a bit shorter but still quite long (South Africa; 2007-06-30)
female perched on a flower (South Africa; 2007-06-30)