What is Sunbird?
{{Automatic Taxobox | name = Sunbirds and spiderhunters | image = ♂ Vigors's sunbird (Aethopyga vigorsii) Photograph by Shantanu Kuveskar.jpg | image_caption = ♂ [[Vigors's sunbird]] from Maharashtra, India | taxon = Nectariniidae | authority = [[Nicholas Aylward Vigors|Vigors]], 1825 }} '''Sunbirds''' and '''spiderhunters''' make up the [[family (biology)|family]] '''Nectariniidae'''. They are small, slender passerines from the [[Old World]], usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, with iridescent feathers, especially the males. Many species have long tail feathers. They live mainly in equatorial regions. There are 145 species in 16 [[genus|genera]]. Most sunbirds feed largely on [[nectar]], but will also eat [[insect]]s and [[spider]]s, especially when feeding their young. Long narrow flowers are punctured at the base near the nectaries, where the birds get the nectar.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Geerts|first1=S.|last2=Pauw|first2=A.|date=2009|title=Hyper-specialization for long-billed bird pollination in a guild of South African plants: the Malachite Sunbird pollination syndrome|journal=South African Journal of Botany|volume=75|issue=4|pages=699–706|doi=10.1016/j.sajb.2009.08.001|doi-access=free}}</ref> Fruit is also often part of their diet. The sunbirds have similarities with two distantly related groups: the [[hummingbird]]s of the [[Americas]] and the [[honeyeater]]s of [[Australia]]. The resemblances are due to [[convergent evolution]]. They all have a similar nectar-feeding lifestyle.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Energy metabolism, respiratory quotient and breathing parameters in two convergent small bird species : the fork-tailed sunbird ''Aethopyga christinae'' (Nectariniidae) and the Chilean Hummingbird ''Sephanoides sephanoides'' (Trochilidae)|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-thermal-biology_1992-03_17_2/page/71|journal=Journal of Thermal Biology |date=March 1992|first= R.|last=Prinzinger |author2=Schafer T. |autho