Eastern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris mediocris) [XC774224]
by id from The Ark, Aberdare Forest, Nyeri County, Kenya (song)
Eastern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris mediocris) [XC449302]
by Frank Lambert from Ngorongoro crater rim, picnic site, Arusha Region, Tanzania (call, flight call)
Subspecies
Nectarinia mediocris (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Eastern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris mediocris) and Nectarinia fuelleborni (including ssp. bensoni) following Bowie et al. (2004), but usumbarica is retained as a subspecies of Eastern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris mediocris) contra Bowie et al. (2004). Morphological evidence in support of this treatment is equivocal but it is supported both phylogenetically and geographically with northern populations of Nectarinia mediocris mediocris and Nectarinia mediocris usumbarica separated from southern populations of Nectarinia fuelleborni fuelleborni and Nectarinia fuelleborni bensoni by Loveridge's Sunbird (Cinnyris loveridgei) and Moreau's Sunbird (Cinnyris moreaui).
Genus often subsumed in Nectarinia. May form a superspecies with Moreau's Sunbird (Cinnyris moreaui) and Loveridge's Sunbird (Cinnyris loveridgei). Recent analyses of mitochondrial DNA suggest that nominate subspecies, usambaricus, and fuelleborni may represent three distinct species, but status of bensoni obscure.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
mediocris (Shelley, 1885) - Western and central Kenya and northern Tanzania.
usambaricus Grote, 1922 - South-eastern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Usambara Double-collared Sunbird (Nectarinia usambarica).
fuelleborni Reichenow, 1899 - Central and southern Tanzania, north-eastern Zambia (Mafinga Mts) and northern Malawi (Karonga District).
bensoni J. G. Williams, 1953 - Southern Malawi and northern Mozambique.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet