Vigors's sunbird

Vigors's sunbird (Aethopyga vigorsii), Sahyadri sunbird, or western crimson sunbird, is a species of sunbird which is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It has been considered as a subspecies of the crimson sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) but it does not have the central tail as elongated and is restricted in its distribution.^[2]

Vigors's sunbird
Male A. vigorsii from Mangaon, Maharashtra, India
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Nectariniidae
Genus:	Aethopyga
Species:	A. vigorsii
Binomial name
Aethopyga vigorsii (Sykes, 1832)

The male has a scarlet throat and breast, while the rest of its under parts are uniformly grey. Its wings are grey-brown and lack yellowish-olive edges.^[3] However, it is yellow on the lower back and tail is bottle green.

The female's upperparts are dark olive, while its underparts are grey. A male who has not yet matured is similar to the female, but it has a dull scarlet throat and breast. ^[3]

The species is distributed mainly in the northern Western Ghats but has been reported from the Nilgiris.^[2] It was named after Irish-born zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors by Colonel William Henry Sykes.

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "Aethopyga vigorsii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T103804493A104300369. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103804493A104300369.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. Rasmussen PC & JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2. Washington DC and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. p. 550.
3. Grimmett, Richard, Inskipp, Carol and Tim (2016). Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. India: Christopher Helm. p. 456. ISBN 978-8-1933-1509-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)