Vertebrate fauna of SE Asia
  

 

   
Home  
——————————  
SE Asia fauna ...  
   
Primates
 Carnivorans
 Large Mammals
 Small Mammals
 Mammal calls
 Bats
—————
Birds
—————
 Snakes
 Lizards & Crocodilians
 Turtles
—————
 Amphibians
 Tadpoles
 Frog calls
—————
Freshwater Fishes
 Marine & Brackish Fishes
—————
Species Lists
 





 


 
——————————  
SE Asia Vert Records (SEAVR) ...  
   
Philippines Records
  Indochina Records
  Indonesia & PNG Records
 
——————————  
New Guinea herptiles ...  
Snakes   Lizards   Frogs  
——————————  
   
  New or updated pages ...
 
 
     
 
     
 
     
 
——————————  
 

Search this site ...

 
 


   

 
  ——————————  
 

Links :
My wife, Sophia's website ... super-healthy, vegan delights :
Vegan-Inspired.com

 
  ——————————  
 


Email :


Text and photos by Nick Baker, unless otherwise credited.
Copyright © Ecology Asia 2023

 
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

   
   
 
Flowerpeckers
   
   

Fig 1 : Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
  

Fig 2 : Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
   

Fig 3 : Mistletoe Flowerpecker
 

Fig 4 : Black-fronted Flowerpecker
 

Fig 5 : Black-fronted Flowerpecker
 

Fig 6 : Fire-breasted Flowerpecker


Fig 7 : Orange-bellied Flowerpecker - male
 

Fig 8 : Orange-bellied Flowerpecker - immature female
 

Fig 9 : Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker
 

Fig 10 : Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker






 

Flowerpeckers comprise the family Dicaeidae, a group of diminutive birds, weighing from 5 to 12 grams, with squat bodies and short, slightly decurved bills. Males of some species exhibit attractive colours and patterning but females are generally dull.

Their diet comprises berries, nectar and sometimes small insects. Some species show a preference for the berries of mistletoe, a parasitic plant : the digestive tract of flowerpeckers can tolerate toxins from these plants. The mistletoe seeds are either discarded prior to the berry being eaten, or pass through the gut undigested. They are coated with a sticky substance which easily adheres to the new host tree. At times, flowerpeckers must rub their posterior against a branch to remove seeds which stubbornly cling to the anus.

Like their near-relatives the sunbirds, flowerpeckers build small, purse-like nests of dried vegetation  suspended in the shade of small trees.

Their flight is swift and direct, and their call is generally some variant of a simply repeated 'chip, chip' or 'tzit tzit' etc.

Around 36 species of flowerpecker occur in Southeast Asia, and the group extends westward into South Asia and southward into Australia. There are numerous endemic species in the Philippine Islands.

 

Fig 1 :
Scarlet-backed
Flowerpecker
Dicaeum cruentatum
Location : Portsdown, Singapore
Habitat : Wooded, residential area.
Notes : Male consuming ripe berries of the mistletoe Macrosolen cochinchinensis.

Fig 2 :
Scarlet-backed
Flowerpecker
Dicaeum cruentatum
Location : Luang Prabang, Laos
Habitat : Wooded, riverine.

Fig 3 :
Mistletoe Flowerpecker
Dicaeum hirundinaceum
Location : Northern Territory, Australia
Habitat : Dry, scrub forest

Figs 4 and 5 :
Black-fronted Flowerpecker
Dicaeum igniferum
Location : Flores, Indonesia
Habitat : Coastal secondary scrub forest

Fig 6 :
Fire-breasted Flowerpecker (Buff-bellied Flowerpecker)
Dicaeum ignipectus
Location : Fraser's Hill, Peninsular Malaysia
Habitat : Gardens, near lower montane primary rainforest

Fig 7 :
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (male)
Dicaeum trigonostigma
Location : Sungai Bantang, Johor, Peninsular Malaysia
Habitat : Lowland secondary forest
Notes : Consuming
seeds of Koster's Curse Clidemia hirta.

Fig 8 :
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker  (immature female)
Dicaeum trigonostigma
Location :
Johor, Peninsular Malaysia
Habitat : Lowland primary forest edge

Notes : Plucking seeds and parts of flowers from a growth of Koster's Curse Clidemia hirta.

Fig 9 :
Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker
Prionochilus maculatus
Location : Sungai Bantang, Johor, Peninsular Malaysia
Habitat : Lowland primary forest, next to stream

Fig 10 :
Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker
Prionochilus percussus
Location :
Johor, Peninsular Malaysia
Habitat : Lowland primary forest edge

Notes : Consuming a seed and flower parts of Koster's Curse Clidemia hirta, an invasive shrub.