LibGuides: Beautiful Sunbird (<i>Cinnyris pulchellus</i>) Fact Sheet: Reproduction & Development (2024)

Survival rates

• Few studies on sunbird longevity or survival rates
• High survival rates in some sunbird species, compared to other tropical birds (Evans 2003)
  • Orange-tufted Sunbird/Palestine Sunbird: 63% (Zilberman et al. 2001)
  • Malachite Sunbird, Nectarinia johnstoni: 72% (high altitude East African mountains)

Egg and nestling mortality [sunbirds, general] (Cheke and Mann 2008, except as noted)

• Egg stage (causes described for Palestine Sunbird by Cheke and Mann 2008, except as noted]
  • Infertility
  • Insufficient nutrition available to embryos (Eising et al. 2009)
  • Desertion
  • Egg shell breakage and embryonic death
  • Adverse weather damages nest (Cheke et al. 2001)
  • Predation of eggs
    • Snakes (Cheke et al. 2001)
    • Larger birds (Markman et al. 1996)
• Nestling stage
  • Brood parasites
    • Not yet reported for C. pulchellus
    • In other sunbird species
      • Cuckoos, Cuculidae
      • Honeyguides, Indicatoridae
  • Infanticide by other males looking to claim territory (Markman et al. 1996; Cheke and Mann 2008)
  • Starvation (Cheke et al. 2001; Cheke and Mann 2008)
    • Parents die
    • Parents cannot find enough food

Fledgling and adult mortality [sunbirds, general]

• Fledgling stage
  • Predators
    • Birds of prey (Cheke et al. 2001)
  • Accidental death
    • Becoming tangled in spiders’ webs (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Adult stage
  • Predators
    • Birds of prey (Cheke et al. 2001)
  • Competition for food (feeding territories)
    • Access to foraging sites aggressively defended by conspecifics and other animals (Akinpelu 1989; Evans 2003; Tropek et al. 2013)

Parasites (non-comprehensive list)

• Blood parasites, e.g., Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, and Leucocytozoon (Cheke et al. 2001; Chasar et al. 2009; Lauron et al. 2015) [Beautiful Sunbird and sunbirds, general]
• Nematode worms (Yeh 1954)
• Feather lice, Ricinus timmermanni (Cheke et al. 2001)
• Mites found in nostrils of some sunbirds [e.g., Copper Sunbird, Scarlet-chested Sunbird] (Fain and Mariaux 1991; Kaluz et al. 2011)
  • Also, hummingbirds (Kaluz et al. 2011)

Diseases (non-comprehensive list)

• Fungal infections in managed care
• Candidiasis (Peaker 1990)