Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
Dicaeum trigonostigma
Bright and colorful male is difficult to miss: bright grayish blue with yellow or orange underparts (depending on subspecies) and a small orange splotch on the back. Female is comparatively dull, but her yellow-suffused underparts and rump are still quite distinctive. Like other flowerpeckers, forages actively, often hovering in front of blossoms or while gleaning from foliage. Inhabits forested edges (less common in dense forest) from lowlands up to foothills; often quite close to human habitation. Gives a variety of buzzy or sharp notes.
Identification
Male is distinctive, and shows slaty-blue upperparts (crown/nape/wings/tail) except for a large triangular orange patch on the mantle. It has a fairly thin and short bill that is slightly curved downwards at the tip. Upper-breast and throat are a lighter greyish blue; from the lower breast to the vent is a gradient from fiery orange (on the lower breast) to yellow (on the vent). Female is much duller, and is mostly drab olive brown overall, except for its pale orange rump and yellow belly.<p>Dicaeum trigonostigma melanostigma<p>Delacour (Birds of Malaysia, 1947) cited a name Dicaeum trigonostigma melanostigma, but because no description accompanied this name, and no type was identified, it was published as a nomen nudum.<p>He later (in litt.) asserted that the name was a lapsus (Salomonsen, American Mus. Novitates No. 1991 (1960)). However, melanostigma continued to be cited in various lists (Howard and Moore, Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (1980, 1991)), as well as on websites which list birds common to Thailand and the surrounding region, thus possibly allowing for the inadvertent description of this name should any published reference to it accompany a picture of an orange-bellied flowerpecker. Dickinson (Complete Howard and Moore Checklist (2003)) also asserted that the name was a lapsus, but of Howard and Moore's, with no reference to Delacour.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Dicaeum trigonostigma
- Authority
- (Scopoli, 1786)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Dicaeidae
- Genus
- Dicaeum
Range and habitat
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Makira White-eye
Zosterops rendovae
Small social songbird, often encountered foraging in upper levels of forest. Mostly olive-green above with a yellow undertail. Belly, chest, and throat gray. Note the smudgy black patch in front of the eye. Found in forest and forest edge from 500 to 2000 meters of elevation, but down to 50 meters of elevation on Makira. Similar to Yellow-throated White-eye, but upperparts less yellow and throat gray. Common calls include a loud mellow “peeeu” and high-pitched “peep-peep” foraging calls.
Bronze Ground Dove
Pampusana beccarii
A rotund, short-legged ground-dwelling dove that usually runs rather than flies when startled. Both sexes have a brown body with bluish-gray chest and head. Males have an iridescent pink shoulder patch. Most obvious identification feature in the field is the glowing white eye-ring of the male, especially in more eastern populations such as those in the Solomon Islands. On mainland New Guinea, the species is a resident of upper-elevation montane forest. No other similar species occur in its altitudinal range. Gives a typical dove-like “woo-oop” call which is quiet and easily missed.
Black Catbird
Melanoptila glabrirostris
Slender-billed, glossy black bird of humid forest, woodland, thickets, and overgrown clearings; shape and habits like Gray Catbird of North America. Common on Cozumel Island, but generally uncommon to rare on the Yucatan mainland. Often sings from a prominent perch, but otherwise rather retiring and easily overlooked, mainly at low levels in bushes; also hops on the ground, flipping and fanning its tail. Told from other black songbirds in its geographic range by habits and slender bill.
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