The orange-breasted sunbird is a small passerine sunbird endemic to South Africa, and is found in shrubland or heathland vegetations called fynbos. Orange-breasted sunbird males average 17 cm long and females 13 cm long. The male's head, throat, and mantle are bright metallic green and the rest of the upper parts are olive green. The upper breast is metallic violet and the rest of the under-side is shades of orange. The female is olive-green on the top-side and olive-yellow on the under-side. These birds have long down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues. Both of these are adaptations for nectar feeding, the orange-breasted sunbird's primary food source. However, the bird also feeds on insects.