- Dicaeum agile
Inlcudes: Striped Flowerpecker
Identification
9–10·4 cm
- Olive-green upperparts
- Greyish white underparts, streaked on the breast
- Short tail
- Short thick curved bill
- Tubular tongue
The sexes are alike.
Distribution
Southern Asia from India east to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore (where it is a rare non-breeding visitor) to Indonesia and Timor.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 11 subspecies[1]:
- D. a. agile: North-eastern Pakistan and peninsula India
- D. a. zeylonicum: Sri Lanka
- D. a. modestum: Southern peninsula Thailand, Malay Peninsula and Borneo
- D. a. pallescens: Bangladesh to Burma, northern Thailand and north Vietnam
- D. a. atjehense: Northern Sumatra (Aceh, Utara and Selatan)
- D. a. finschi: Western Java
- D. a. tinctum: Lesser Sundas (Sumba, Flores and Alor)
- D. a. obsoletum: Timor (eastern Lesser Sundas)
- D. a. striatissimum: Northern Philippines (Lubang, Luzon, Romblon, Sibuyan, Catanduanes)
- D. a. aeruginosum: Central and southern Philippines (Cebu, Negros, Mindoro and Mindanao)
- D. a. affine: South-western Philippines (Palawan)
The last three subspecies from the Philippines are sometimes split as Striped Flowerpecker, Dicaeum aeruginosum.
Habitat
A variety of woods and forests, both broadleaved evergreen. Found in the canopy and forest edges, gardens with fruit trees, particularly figs.
Behaviour
They jerk their tails from side to side.
Breeding
They builds a purse-like nest suspended from a tree. The clutch consists of 2-4 eggs.
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of fruit, particularly figs and lantana. They also eat flowers, nectar and insects, including spiders.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved March 2015)
- BF Member observations
- AvianWeb
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Thick-billed Flowerpecker. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 1 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Thick-billed_Flowerpecker