Alternative name: Palawan Flowerpecker
- Dicaeum pygmaeum
Identification
8.4 cm (3¼ in). A plain-looking flowerpecker with a thin, short bill.
Male
- Olive black top of head, back, uppering and tail; with green gloss
- Dull olive-yellow rump
- Dull olive-green uppertail-coverts
- White chin, centre of throat and pectoral tufts
- Dull olive-green face and side of throat
- Buffy white rest of underparts mottled grey
Female
- Grey head with olive tinge
- Olive mantle and back
- Pale olive to buff-white lores , short supercilium and narrow eyering
- Drab grey face
- Drab grey underparts variably tinged olive-yellow, whitish chin and throat
Juveniles are greyer than females and have a greenish rump. The different subspecies vary in colour of dorsal gloss and rump colour of male.
Distribution
Endemic to the Philippines.
Common in most of its range.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Five subspecies recognized[1]:
- D. p. fugaensis on Fuga Island (northern Philippines off northern Luzon)
- D. p. salomonseni in the northern Philippines (Ilocos Norte Province of extreme northern Luzon)
- D. p. pygmaeum on central and southern Luzon and central Philippine Islands
- D. p. davao in the southern Philippines (Mindanao and Camiguin Sur)
- D. p. palawanorum in the southern Philippines (Balabac, Culion, Calauit and Palawan)
Habitat
Found in forest, secondary growth and forest edge. Usually around flowering and fruiting trees.
Usually occurs below 1000 m, but as high as 2000 m on Luzon.
Behaviour
Usually seen singly or in small groups. Joins mixed-species flocks.
Diet
Feeds on Loranthus mistletoes. Takes probably also fruit, nectar and pollen of other mistletoe species.
Forages high in the canopy or upper understorey.
Breeding
Birds with active gonads were recorded in February, April, July and December, a dependent fledgling in May. No other information available.
Movements
Nothing known.
Movements
This is a resident species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2014)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Pygmy Flowerpecker. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Pygmy_Flowerpecker
