The male Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker

Posted by BESG on 19 December 08, Friday
Contributed by Adrian Lim

Adrian Lim a.k.a. wmw998 photographed a male Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker (Prionochilus percussus) at Rengit, Johor, Malaysia in October 2008.

“This Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker is nothing rare to most of you who had been to Panti. The bird might be small, but it made my head spin. It was just too quick… I was almost out of breath, after chasing it for a distance. To make matter worse, it would perch in dark areas, and I really had to struggle for shutter speed.”

This flowerpecker is resident in Malaysia. According to Cheke et al. (2001), the subspecies in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo is ignicapillus. Two other subspecies are percussus in Java and regulus in Batu Island, Sumatra.

However, in Plate 3, p. 36 of Cheke et al. (2001), the male percussus is depicted as having raised crown feathers. The ignicapillus on the other hand is depicted as having flattened crown feathers.

It is interesting to note that the subspecies ignicapillus photographed in Peninsular Malaysia has raised crown feathers.

Reference:
Cheke, R. A., Mann, C. F. & Allen, R. (2001). Sunbirds: A guide to the sunbirds, flowerpeckers, spiderhunters and sugarbirds of the world. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

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