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Tiny Sunbird | Cinnyris minullus
Kabouterhoningzuiger | Suimanga Enano
The Tiny Sunbird is the smallest member of the genus Cinnyris, measuring about 8–9 cm and weighing under 6 g. It belongs to the rainforests of West and Central Africa and has been recorded in the guide area only in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.
Voice
Sharp, short 'tsew' calls. The song is a rapid run of high notes at varying pitches.
Recording: Rod Cassidy — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
The male has a glossy metallic-green head, back and throat, a blue rump and a black tail with a blue-purple sheen. A narrow blue band crosses the breast above a broader but still relatively small scarlet band, flanked by lemon-yellow pectoral tufts that are often hidden. The belly is dark olive. The female is plain olive-brown above with a faint olive-yellow supercilium, a greyish throat and olive underparts washed yellow. Both sexes have a strikingly short, almost straight bill. Juveniles resemble the female.
Confusion species
Very similar to Olive-Bellied Sunbird (Cinnyris chloropygius), which occurs in the same area. Tiny Sunbird is smaller, with a shorter and straighter bill, and the male's red breast band is narrower. Females are hardly separable in the field from other female sunbirds.
Habitat
Primary and secondary rainforest, especially forest edges and clearings; elsewhere in its range also among scattered trees in savanna and around villages. Usually forages high in the canopy, singly or in pairs, sometimes with mixed-species flocks. Feeds on nectar, insects and spiders.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Widespread across the rainforest belt of West and Central Africa, from Sierra Leone to Cameroon, Gabon, eastern DR Congo and western Uganda, including Bioko. The guide area lies right at the southern edge of this range: the species is known only from the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, with a few recent records (2022–2023) near Belize in northern Cabinda. It is absent from the rest of southern Africa; the enclave is an outlier of the Central African forest block.
How and when to look
Within the guide area this is a very hard species to find, with only a handful of records, all from northern Cabinda. Flowering trees along forest edges are the best place to look. Given its close resemblance to Olive-Bellied Sunbird, a good photograph showing bill length and the width of the red band is almost essential.
Conservation status
Not globally threatened (IUCN: Least Concern) owing to its very large range; common in parts of it and scarce elsewhere. In the guide area it is rare and occurs only at the very edge of its distribution.
Scientific name
Cinnyris minullus | Reichenow, 1899
Reichenow described the species in 1899 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Cinnyris was introduced in 1816 by Cuvier, GLCFD. Cinnyris derives from the Greek kinnuris, the name of a small bird mentioned by the lexicographer Hesychius that cannot be identified further. minullus is Latin for 'very small', a diminutive related to minor ('smaller'); it is the smallest species in its genus. The specimen the first description was based on came from Yaoundé, Cameroon.