© Ramesh Aithal
National Geographic has created an amazing photographic introduction to the Sunbirds and Spiderhunters, a group of fascinating and colorful Old World species. Sunbirds have been described as the Old World equivalents of New World hummingbirds for their ecological importance to flowering plants, their food preferences, their colorful iridescent plumages, and small size.
Spiderhunters are attractive but little-known birds that are closely related to sunbirds with more restricted ranges in southern Asia.
The stunning photographs can be viewed on the National Geographic web site.