Picture a small, vibrantly colorful bird. Its feathers flash in shades of metallic purple, green, and red as it hops around in a cluster of yellow flowers.

The bird methodically probes each flower using its curved bill. Its long, needle-thin-tonged tongue flicks in and out, lapping up sweet nectar.

If I told you this scene was in Peru, Costa Rica, Texas, or just about anywhere in the new world,

you'd be right to assume we're talking about a hummingbird.

But what if I told you this hypothetical, iridescent, flower-loving bird

lives in India? There are no hummingbirds in India. In fact, there aren't any hummingbirds

anywhere in the old world. Not a one. You are a smart cookie, and you probably noticed the title of this podcast episode before hitting the play button.

So I'll stop playing games.

The bird I'm describing, what with the shiny green purple and red plumage, is a sunbird.

Specifically, a crimson-backed sunbird, leptocoma minima.

The crimson-backed sunbird is just one of many sunbird species in the world.

Now, if you've lived all your life in North America or anywhere in the Western Hemisphere,

you might point at a sunbird and say,

look at that little dude. He's trying to be a hummingbird. But sunbirds are their own thing.

They aren't closely related to hummingbirds, and they aren't trying to be anything other than

their fabulous little selves.

Music to be anything other than their fabulous little selves. Hello and welcome. This is the Science of Birds.

I am your host, Ivan Philipson.

The Science of Birds podcast is a light-hearted exploration of bird biology for lifelong learners.

This is episode 81.

It's all about birds in the family, Nectarineidae.

These are the sunbirds and the spider hunters. The title of this

...