51. Green - headed Sunbird The Green-headed sunbird has an iridescent green head which often shines blue. So you can appreciate the problems of naming these birds: which colour is it, really? Green or blue? You can argue, perhaps, that it isn’t either colour because iridescence isn’t a colour in that sense. But usually iridescence is combined with pigmentation, as in this case, I guess, giving the iridescence a dominant colour. I imagine the degree and nature of translucence in the feathers makes a difference, too. Sunbirds are nectarivores, living off the nectar drawn from flowers, mostly from red flowers: that’s where you will normally see them, working the bushes industriously and systematically, digging deep into the intimate parts of blooms, chirruping and chirping all the while. Nectar from flowers, though, doesn’t give them all they need: it is low in proteins. The birds have to top up their diet with insects; and so you will also often see sunbirds working those trees which, at this time of the year, have sticky buds that draw insects. They check the outsides of windows regularly, looking to take the little spiders living in the corners; and perhaps also the webs for nests. Birds of AFRICAMA House 106 Birds of AFRICAMA House 107