Marico Sunbird

The Marico Sunbird is a small sunbird with distinct sexual dimorphism. The adult male has an entirely metallic green head, throat and back to the rump including the scapulars with golden reflections on the head, while the beak, lores and the contour of the eyes are black, the iris is dark brown. The rectrices are dark brown and the two outer feathers are bordered with metallic green. The wings are dark brown but slightly lighter than the tail feathers. The top of the chest is marked with two bands of color: the base of the throat is surrounded by a narrow iridescent dark blue-violet band, below a wide breast band is purple-brown. In the subspecies Cinnyris mariquensis osiris this breast band is mixed with iridescent purple feathers. The abdomen, the flanks, the under-tail coverts and the wings are black. The legs are black. The subspecies Cinnyris mariquensis suahelicus has a shorter beak than the nominal subspecies. The female is distinguished from the male by its upper parts brown and its lower parts light yellow-brown. It has a light brown white eyebrow and yellow-brown mustaches contrasting with the rest of the brown head. The remiges and rectrices are much darker brown. The outer feathers of the rectrices have a white patch on the outer edges. The throat and chest are whitish-dull with variable amounts of thick black streaks. The abdomen tinged with pale yellow also has brown patches. The undertail coverts are white-fawn with black-brown and white streaks. The beak and legs are black as the male. The juvenile resembles the female. The immature male is distinguished from the female by a black or gray throat bordered with white. The lower parts are yellow with strong black streaks on the chest.A conspicuous spot stands out on the shoulder. The tertiary remiges are tinted light brown, most prominently on the secondaries. The central rectrices are a bright dark blue with a hint of green. The outer rectrices are brown with white edges above and below.