56. Collared Sunbird The collar in question is a thin band of purple between the green breast, and the yellow belly. Sunbirds are among the few birds in this part of the world that can actually hover: that is, stay stationary in the air simply by moving their wings. Some other birds can remain stationary, but only because they are riding the oncoming wind flowing over the aerofoil-shaped wings. They might have to flap their wings to stop being pushed backwards. But sunbirds can hover without the help of an oncoming wind. They will do this sometimes to access the nectar inside a flower that is otherwise hard to get at, hanging in the air on wings made invisible by speed in front of the flower and drinking deep. It must take a lot of energy, and normally sunbirds perch first and attack the flower from that position. Their cousins the hummingbirds, however, are great hoverers and rarely perch to feed. They both do this by beating their wings in a ‘figure of eight’ pattern which does work if you do it very very fast. Hummingbirds, however, do something that no other bird (I think) can do: they can fly backwards. Birds of AFRICAMA House 116 Birds of AFRICAMA House 117