Skip to content

Purple Sunbirds Used Both Vegetation and Human-Made Supports for Nesting in Northwestern India

Male Purple Sunbird perched among red flowers in Jim Corbett National Park, India
Research · Reproduction & development

A study of purple sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus) breeding in agricultural landscapes of northwestern India found that the birds used both woody vegetation and human-made structures for nesting. Fieldwork from 2022 to 2024 covered Aittiana and Halwara in Punjab and Ahmadpur and Mirpur in Haryana.

Eighteen nests used both vegetation and artificial supports

Researchers used point counts and focal nest observations to record nesting chronology, nest-site use, clutch characteristics and breeding performance. Across the two breeding seasons they recorded 18 nests in total. Nest supports included Acacia, Ziziphus, Morus and Punica, as well as artificial supports such as fencing wire. With this small nest sample, the study documents flexible use of available substrates rather than demonstrating a general preference for artificial structures.

Breeding success was higher at the Punjab sites

Clutch size ranged from two to four eggs, and the timing of nesting, egg-laying and hatching varied among sites and years. When the two sites within each state were pooled, hatching success in Punjab was 93.3% in 2022–23 and 66.7% in 2023–24, compared with 40.0% in Haryana in both seasons. Fledging success showed the same regional direction: 83.3% and 66.7% in Punjab versus 40.0% in Haryana in both seasons. The authors suggest that local habitat, disturbance, prey availability or predator pressure could contribute to the difference, but the study did not isolate which of these factors was responsible.

Adults also shifted strongly toward animal prey while feeding chicks. Recorded food included ants, bees, wasps, spiders, grasshoppers and termites, while nectar remained a supplementary resource during the breeding period.

The authors conclude that the heterogeneous crop landscapes in the study area supplied both nesting substrates and feeding resources for purple sunbirds. They also note that the substantial use of arthropods while provisioning nestlings points to a potential contribution to natural pest regulation in agricultural systems.

Sources and image credit

  1. Sharma, P., Sekhon, G. S., Kaur, N., & Kler, T. (2026). Breeding Performance and Foraging Plasticity of Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus) in Crop fields of Northwestern India. International Journal of Bio-resource and Stress Management, 17(6), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.23910/1.2026.7055Primary peer-reviewed article published 13 June 2026. Fieldwork from 2022–2024 at two sites in Punjab and two in Haryana documented nest-site use, clutches of 2–4 eggs, higher hatching and fledging success at the Punjab sites, and a strong breeding-season shift toward insects and other arthropods for nestling provisioning while nectar remained supplementary.

Image: Giles Laurent / Wikimedia Commons — male purple sunbird in Jim Corbett National Park, India, 22 March 2023; cropped to 16:9. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Reproduction & development

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Purple Sunbird Cinnyris asiaticus Explore species

Independent research and conservation news archive

Did you find this information useful?

Wildlife Vagabond is independently built and maintained. Voluntary support helps cover source verification, hosting and continued work on research and conservation news.

Support Wildlife Vagabond

The news archive will remain freely available.