Malachite sunbird Malachite sunbird The malachite sunbird ("Nectarinia famosa") is a small nectarivorous bird found from the highlands of Ethiopia southwards to South Africa. The pollinate many flowering plants, particularly those with long corolla tubes, in the Fynbos. The sunbirds are a group of small Old World passerine birds, and are placed within the family Nectariniidae, which is found across Africa, the Middle East and into South-east Asia. Also called green sugarbird. The malachite sunbird has two subspecies. The nominate "N. f. famosa "occurs mainly in South Africa, Lesotho and western Swaziland, although its range just extends into southern Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Mineral the sample reflecting different colours as it is turned, while pleochroism describes the change in colour as light passes through a mineral in a different orientation. Iridescence is a variety of the play of colours where light scatters off a coating on the surface of crystal, cleavage planes, or off layers having minor gradations in chemistry. In contrast, the play of colours in opal is caused by light refracting from ordered microscopic silica spheres within its physical structure. Chatoyancy ("cat's eye") is the wavy banding of colour that is observed as the sample is rotated; asterism, a variety of chatoyancy,