Cape Sugarbird

Common endemic resident. Female told from [Gurney’s Sugarbird] by shorter tail, pronounced malar streak, less rufous breast and lack of rufous cap. The song is a series of jumbled metallic, grating and churring notes. When breeding (winter), male calls conspicuously from a perch or flies about in undulating flight, wing clapping with tail held high. Pairs occur in the southern and southwestern Cape on coastal mountain slopes and flats where proteas are flowering, moving about between seasons.