Flowerpeckers (Dicaeidae)

(Dicaeidae)

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Suborder: Passeri (Oscines)

Family: Dicaeidae

Thumbnail description
Flowerpeckers (genera Prionochilus and Dicaeum) are very small, often brightly colored birds with short, usually straight, bills and short stubby tails; keeping to higher levels of trees, they are noisy, singing chattering songs and making piping calls; berrypeckers are similar but larger with longer and more slender bills

Size
2.2–8.3 in (5.6–21 cm); 0.14–2.8 oz (4–80 g)

Number of genera, species
6 genera; 52 species

Habitat
Tall forest; all habitats from sea-level up to more than 12,000 ft (3,700 m)

Conservation status
Critically Endangered: 1 species; Vulnerable: 2 species; Near Threatened: 5 species

Distribution
Indian sub-continent, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, south China, Hainan Island, Taiwan, the Malay peninsular, Indonesia, and the Philippines, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, New Guinea and its surrounding islands, and Australia

Evolution and systematics

Apart from true flowerpeckers (genera Prionochilus and Dicaeum), the composition and affinities of the Dicaeidae are disputed. On the basis of DNA hybridization studies, no other genera in the family were admitted. However, berrypeckers (genera Melanocharis, Rhamphocharis, Oreocharis and Paramythia) of New Guinea and the eight species of pardalotes, or diamondbirds (Pardalotus spp.), found in Australia and Tasmania, are often included within the flowerpecker family. Berrypeckers, included here with flowerpeckers, have simply constructed tongues. The pardalotes differ from the other groups as they lack serrations on the bills and have simple tongues. Other close relatives of flowerpeckers include sunbirds (Nectariniidae) and the white-eyes (Zosteropidae).

Physical characteristics

Mostly small, these passerines are 2.2–8.3 in (5.6–21 cm) in length. Flowerpeckers in the genera Prionochilus and Dicaeum are small with short bills and short stubby tails and have the distal third of the upper mandibles serrated. Tongues of Prionochilus are split at the end and each prong is further subdivided by a cleft. Tongues of the Dicaeum species are similar but longer and more variable, some having their edges curled up to form two tubes to facilitate uptake of nectar. Species in both genera have frilly outer edges, termed fimbriations, to their tongues. Some species are dull in plumage but others are brightly colored with patterns of red or yellow contrasting with black or dark blue feathering. In most cases, plumages of females are duller than those of males.

Berrypeckers vary from the small tit-like Arfak berrypecker (Oreocharis arfaki) to the biggest member of the family, the thrush-like crested berrypecker (Paramythia montium). They have simple tongues, elongated straight bills, and lack specializations of the gut that those flowerpeckers that deal with mistletoe berries have. Melanocharis spp. and Rhamphocharis crassirostris have pectoral tufts.

Distribution

Flowerpeckers of the genus Prionochilus are found in Thailand, Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The genus Dicaeum occurs in the same areas but also extends to the Indian sub-continent, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, south China, Hainan Island, Taiwan, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, New Guinea and its surrounding islands, and Australia. Berrypeckers (genera Melanocharis, Rhamphocharis, Oreocharis, and Paramythia) are restricted to New Guinea.

Habitat

Flowerpeckers and berrypeckers are mostly birds of forests, but some are found at sea-level and others occur very high up in mountains where vegetation is sparse. Many species are partial to secondary growth or even cultivations and the scarlet-backed flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum) frequents towns and villages. The mistletoebird (D. hirundinaceum) is the only Australian representative, and it can be found in habitats ranging from rainforest to arid woodland.

Behavior

Flowerpeckers are active and agile birds, twisting and turning among foliage, flicking their wings, twittering, and calling sharply. They are usually single, or in pairs or small groups, but they will join mixed-species bird parties. They sometimes sit motionless on perches for long periods. Songs are mostly simple high-pitched chirps and clicks, but the musical ability of the mistletoebird is remarkable and mimics songs of many different Australian birds.

In contrast, berrypeckers such as the crested berrypecker (Paramythia montium) are highly social birds, often occurring in groups of up to 12 birds; a large flock of 75 has been observed. They sometimes stand with tail cocked and raise their crests if excited or frightened. They fly in a jerky manner and are noisy in flight making low, short, calls.

Feeding ecology and diet

Flowerpeckers are fond of treetops where they seek out mistletoe berries, fruits, nectar, pollen, small insects, and spiders. The fleshy part of large mistletoe berries is stripped off and eaten with the seeds discarded. There is an elaborate and amusing dance-like behavior as the birds try to deposit the seed on a branch and separate themselves from it and its sticky threads. Smaller fruits are eaten whole and pass very rapidly through the specialized gut that permits the berries to by-pass the stomach and enter the intestine directly; insects and spiders on the other hand are digested via the stomach. Insects may be caught by hawking, flycatcher-fashion. Berrypeckers are mostly frugivorous, but also take insects and spiders, occasionally hover-gleaning to catch them.

Reproductive biology

The reproductive behavior of flowerpeckers is little known and the eggs of some species have yet to be described. The mistletoebird is territorial, with males chasing intruders in weaving flights over their boundaries. For courtship, they flit around a female, calling and fanning their tails. Both sexes of most flowerpeckers are involved in building nests, incubation, and feeding of the young. Nests are neat purse-shaped bags with slit entrances near the tops and are suspended from bushes or trees. They are made of vegetable material, lichen, dried flowers, feathers, small roots, or grass, held together with cobwebs, and lined with vegetable down. Some nests are decorated with insect excreta or other debris. Most eggs are white, but those of a few species are spotted. The usual clutch is two but may be up to four. Nests of berrypeckers are cup-shaped and placed in thick shrubbery. Only one egg is laid in the nests of Paramythia montium.

Conservation status

The Cebu flowerpecker (Dicaeum quadricolor) is Critically Endangered with only a tiny population of less than 50 birds surviving in three forest fragments on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. Long considered to be Extinct, the species was re-discovered in 1992. There are two other globally threatened species of flowerpecker in the Philippines: the black-belted or Visayan flowerpecker (D. haematostictum) and the scarlet-collared flowerpecker (D. retrocinctum). The black-belted flowerpecker is threatened as its small range in the western Visayas Islands is becoming increasingly fragmented by deforestation. The scarlet-collared flowerpecker also exists only in forest fragments, mostly in Mindoro, and is threatened by dynamite blasting for marble and encroachment by slash-and-burn agriculture. Also within the Philippines are two other flowerpeckers that are Near Threatened: the whiskered flowerpecker (D. proprium) is endemic to Mindanao and the flame-crowned flowerpecker (D. anthonyi) occurs only on Mindanao and Luzon. Other Near Threatened flowerpeckers include the white-throated flowerpecker (D. vincens) that is confined to Sri Lanka, while the scarlet-breasted flow-erpecker (Prionochilus thoracicus) and the brown-backed flow-erpecker (D. everetti) occur in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei.

The obscure berrypecker (Melanocharis arfakiana) was thought to be Endangered for many years, but field-work in Papua New Guinea has shown it to be quite common in some areas, including at one site near Port Moresby. The species is apparently able to survive in degraded forest, so it may be adaptable in the face of logging and agricultural clearances of its native forest.

Significance to humans

Some species are accorded pest status as they spread parasitic mistletoes on trees of economic importance. The crested berrypecker is prized as food in the highlands of New Guinea.

Species accounts

Resources

Beehler, B. M., T. K. Pratt, and D. A. Zimmerman. Birds of New Guinea. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.

BirdLife International. Threatened Birds of the World. Barcelona and Cambridge: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, 2000.

Cheke, R. A., C. F. Mann, and R. Allen. Sunbirds: A Guide to the Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters, and Sugarbirds of the World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.

Rand, A. L., and E. T. Gilliard. Handbook of New Guinea Birds. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1967.

Sibley, C. G., and B. L. Monroe. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.

[Article by: Robert Alexander Cheke, PhD]