Mystery Bird - What small bird has a blue black shiny skin?

I have this bird coming in my balcony every single day (it's got this very distinctive chirp much like sparrows). It looks as small as a sparrow but it's skin is a shiny blue black (something I've never seen before). I live in Dubai and my mystery bird generally comes for a few seconds only sits on the branches of some miniature trees I have growing inside the balcony, chirping all the time and flies off before I get my hands on the camera or try to move closer. I have tomatoes, hibiscus, some herbs, a curry tree an small avocado plant and also a small tamarind tree on which it rests. It flies around and quickly flutters away.

I wonder what bird it is, where it comes from and what exactly is attracting it to my balcony once every few hours. Any ideas?

As hard as I tried, I can't get a picture. It flies away the moment I move.

My web searches found a similar bird called Blue-black Grassquit (again I may be wrong here), but this one that visits my balcony really shines (at least the head shines with a distinct shade of dark blue I've never seen in the local birds). How can I find out?

vanita, I'm not sure what kind of bird it is, but it might think that the plants on your balcony would make suitable nesting places. If you have fruit on your plants, have you seen signs that it has pecked at anything?

Is it a Purple Sunbird?

This website has a lot of UAE birds.
http://uaebirding.smugmug.com/UAE-birds

The Purple Sunbird is on the site here:
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-XPStD/i-dxQ6TcT

Patti

I'd agree Purple Sunbird sounds a good possibility.

Not a Blue-black Grassquit, you'd have to go to South America to see them ;-)

Resin

Thanks all!

Yes I think it may just be the purple sun-bird. The long beak and the shine is just like in the pictures only the one that visits here is more blackish blue but both Patti and Resin, Thanks a million!

No fruits have been pecked at. Most of my plants (except the tomatoes) are mostly foliage. I read that sun-birds feed on nectar though there are no flowers opened this month yet when feeding their young, insects are the main diet. I'm thinking that is what may have attracted them, some bugs or spiders that may be nesting around my plants or some corner. Also, for nectar they probe a wide range of plant, rather than specializing on specific species, I believe Hibiscus may be one of them (though it's yet to flower this month). I'm hoping to have some regular visits sometime soon when those hibiscus buds have flowered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_sunbird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDM9eFhSbjU

I've also seen them being followed by two females (olive brown above with yellowish underside), at almost all times. The females would come often before also squeaking all the time, flying around the balcony. I guess they all come looking for food and move away quickly when they find none (but you never know if they are just looking for some breeding grounds).

:-)

Based on this tidbit from the Wiki article, I think they might indeed be checking out your balcony as a possible nesting spot: "The nest is usually suspended from a low branch, often of thorny plants but are sometimes build close to human habitations, attached to wires or other man-made objects...."