Dear All,
Back in February this year, I reported (accompanied by numerous
images) what after much deliberation I considered a male Purple
Sunbird, found no closer to us than Oman, but this one was at the tree
nursery at East Gate NNP.  I have attached images to remind you of
what it was like. The record was not going to go any further and an
attempt to locate it the  following week struck out, there was no sign
of the bird.

Note that on the image, the bottom line inside the red line are images
of Purple Sunbirds taken from various parts of their range, anything
outside the line is the East Gate bird, apart from the male Variable
Sunbird of course.

Adam Kennedy a week or so ago located an image on Facebook that was
most certainly a Purple Sunbird photographed at Main Gate NNP on 22nd
June. Ironically it turned out to be from a Professor Reg Victor who
resides and teaches at a University in Oman and has Purple Sunbirds in
his garden and knows them well. Before that he lived in India and had
Purple Sunbirds in his garden there too. Because he realised that
Purple Sunbird did not occur in the sub-saharan region he never
pursued it and apart from his Facebook posting, shelved the record as
not certain. At this time he had no knowledge about my sighting two
months prior.

I have attached the original images I posted, and also the new image
Reg took at Main Gate in June, the bird now having moulted into a
fully adult male.

It is a good idea to be aware of this bird and pay special attention
to visitors to flowering trees around the Car Park area and hopefully
it will turn up again.

Best for now
Brian