Tag: flowerpecker

Dung-on-a-twig: Mistletoe and Birds
[Part 2]

This is the continuation of the blog post: Dung-on-a-twig: Mistletoe and Birds last week. Here is another video showing how mistletoes are propagated. This time a Pygmy Flowerpecker, Dicaeum pygmaeum does the job of pooping the very sticky mistletoe seeds and wiping it off a branch. The Pygmy Flowerpecker is a common and widespread endemic ranging in most Philippine Islands including Palawan. This flowerpecker is particularly fond of Loranthus mistletoe and prefers lowland forest up to 1000 meters. The call is similar to tapping two pebbles together and is given almost continuously while foraging on fruiting and flowering trees. See the bird stretching first and then pooping next at around 0:40 into the video clip. Next week: Last installment for this series. Happy birding! Pygmy Flowerpecker, Dicaeum pygmaeum January 2011, Mt. Makiling, Laguna, Philippines

Dung-on-a-twig: Mistletoe and Birds
[Part 1]

A mistletoe growing on a host tree. Photo by Marites Cervero
Yes, we have mistletoes here in the Philippines. Mistletoes are botanically interesting plants as they are hemiparasites (or partial parasites). They usually grow on trunks or branches of trees and send out roots that penetrate the host tree's branches. They can generate their own food through photosynthesis but they can also extract some nutrients from their host tree. Mistletoe comes from two Anglo-Saxon words: "Mistel" meaning dung and "tan" which is a word for twig. So, mistletoe means "dung-on-a-twig." This name came about when early botanists observed mistletoe would often appear on a branch or twig where birds had left droppings. And this is how mistletoes are spread: A bird (like this immature Buzzing Flowerpecker) eats the very sticky berry fruits of the mistletoe and then poops and wipes it off another branch. This flowerpecker, by the way is a common, widespread Philippine endemic found in most islands except Palawan. Next week: another bird showing this interesting behavior. Happy birding! **Update: Check the rest of this series here: Part 2: Pygmy Flowerpecker Part 3: Fire-breasted Flowerpecker Buzzing Flowerpecker (immature), Dicaeum hypoleucum July 2010, Mt. Polis, the Cordilleras, Northern Luzon, Philippines