Fire-breasted Flowerpiercer Dicaeum ignipectus

Fire-breasted Flowerpiercer Dicaeum ignipectus

Male Fire-breasted Flowerpiercer, Shemgang, Bhutan, March 2008 - click for larger image

Shemgang, Bhutan
March/April 2008

The Fire-breasted Flowerpiercer is distributed throughout much of south-east Asia from the foothills of the Himalayas through central China to Indochina and south to Indonesia and the Philippines.

It is found in forest and woodland often being associated with rhododendrons and is normally between 500 and 3000 metres.

It is a very small bird at about 9 cm. The male, seen here in photos 1 and 2 has blue-green upperparts with black wings, a pale buffy throat, a red breast band and buffy belly.

Female Fire-breasted Flowerpiercer, Shemgang, Bhutan, April 2008 - click for larger image

The female, seen here in photos 3, 4 and 5, has olive-green upperparts and buffy underparts. It feeds on nectar, fruit, berries and insects.

There are recordings on xeno-canto.

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