Pink-breasted Flowerpecker
Dicaeum keiense
Tiny, compact bird, a typical flowerpecker with a short bill and very short tail. Endemic to the Tanimbar and Kai islands. Adult male glossy blue-black above, with a red chest and patchily pinkish-red underparts. Female gray above and pale below, with red rump and undertail coverts. Juvenile plain, with orange bill base and undertail coverts. Inhabits forest and forest edge habitats. Gives a high-pitched “tsee’ip”, a metallic trill, thin “tsip” notes, and short buzzy notes.
Taxonomy
The pink-breasted flowerpecker was formally described in 1874 by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori based on a specimen collected on the Kai Islands by the Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari. Salvadori coined the binomial name Dicaeum keiense. The specific epithet is from the alternative spelling "Kei" for the Kai Islands. The pink-breasted flowerpecker was formerly considered as a subspecies of the mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum).<p>Two subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Dicaeum keiense
- Authority
- Salvadori, 1874
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Dicaeidae
- Genus
- Dicaeum
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Klages's Antbird
Drymophila klagesi
Stunning small bird with long, white-tipped tail. Head, back and breast streaked black-and-white in male; female also streaked but back and crown are rufous. Both sexes show rufous rump and belly. Wings have contrasting white spots and wingbars. Often in pairs in bamboo thickets or at edges of montane forest. Hard to see but easy to hear, raspy song starting with two strong peeps followed by two or three longer, wheezy notes. No similar species in range.
Scaly-naped Pigeon
Patagioenas squamosa
A large dark pigeon of forests with a proclivity for perching high in trees while still not in clear view. Found throughout a variety of forested habitats at most elevations, generally most common in intact primary lowland and montane forest, but can be seen along a variety of forest edge and secondary forest types. Dark-slate gray body differs from the Plain Pigeon, which is distinctly paler, and it lacks the white crown of White-crowned Pigeon. It is somewhat skittish in most areas, perhaps due to hunting and is often first detected by a loud flapping of wings as it takes flight or by its low-pitched “wooo hooo” and “wudu-hoo hoooooo” songs.
Chubb's Cisticola
Cisticola chubbi
Large, plain montane cisticola. The most outstanding aspects of the plumage are a reddish cap and two bands across the tip of the tail, one pale and one black. Found in open montane habitats with thick herbaceous undergrowth, including forest edge, grassland, and heath. Almost always in pairs or small groups. The distinctive song is given in chorus: a frantic up-and-down series of scratchy notes. As with other cisticolas, habitat and vocalizations are important to identification. Fairly similar to Singing Cisticola, but lacks a rufous panel in the wings.
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