Fire-breasted Flowerpecker Dicaeum ignipectus ignipectus is resident southern Shaanxi and southeast Tibet to Guangdong and Hainan. Also formosum Taiwan. HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Forests, in summer to 2500 m (8,200 ft.), lower in winter. Often among mistletoe, the berries of which it eats and the seeds of which it disperses; eats other fruits as well as insects. ID & COMPARISON Male has deep blue-green upperparts and black cheeks and sides of throat, extending down to shoulders. Underparts pale yellow, with fire-orange breast patch; black stripe connects breast patch and belly. Female olive-green above (greenest on rump) with blackish wings and tail; buffy-yellow below, warmest on flanks. Has darker face and underparts and greener upperparts than Plain Flowerpecker D. minullum. BARE PARTS Bill, feet black. VOICE Song a series of short, sharp, warbling, almost tit-like cheeps and whistles. Harsh calls. — Craig Brelsford
THE FLOWERPECKERS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers every species in the family Dicaeidae in China. Click any link:
Thick-billed Flowerpecker Dicaeum agile
Yellow-vented Flowerpecker D. chrysorrheum
Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker D. melanozanthum
Plain Flowerpecker D. minullum
Fire-breasted Flowerpecker D. ignipectus
Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker D. cruentatum
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
