Fire-tailed Sunbird

The fire-tailed sunbird is a sunbird of the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, primarily the Himalaya, and some adjoining regions of Southeast Asia, in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Tibet. Breeding males develop a long scarlet tail and are about 15 cm long including it, with a scarlet nape and mantle, a yellow-orange breast and an olive-green belly; females, about two-thirds that length, have a grey-olive head and throat and a yellow belly. Eclipse males are like females but have brighter yellow bellies, scarlet upper tail coverts and scarlet tail sides (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its natural habitats are temperate forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It eats insects and also nectar, breeds in rhododendron shrub, and both parents take part in feeding the young. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident and altitudinal migrant forest bird and omnivore with a Moderate range of about 55,800 km² and insufficient data on the long-term trend (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).