Little Spiderhunter

The little spiderhunter is a long-billed nectar-feeding bird of the sunbird family found in the moist forests of South and Southeast Asia. Unlike typical sunbirds, males and females are very similar in plumage, and the male has an all-black bill. Within India it has disjunct populations in the Eastern Ghats, from Lamasinghi, Visakhapatnam and parts of Odisha, and in the Western Ghats, apart from its main distribution in north-east India that extends into Southeast Asia (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is usually seen in ones or twos and frequently gives a tzeck call, with a buzzy zick-zick call made regularly when disturbed or foraging; the song is a series of rapid chipping notes that can go on for long periods. The breeding season in north-eastern India is March to September but mainly May to August, and two eggs are the usual clutch. It has gone locally extinct in Singapore's botanical garden. SoIB 2023 rates it a Moderate conservation priority, a resident of forest and plantation with a Moderate range of about 215,000 km² and a rapid long-term decline of about 63% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).