Yellow-breasted flowerpecker facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yellow-breasted flowerpecker
In Panti Forest, Johor, Malaysia
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Dicaeidae
Genus:	Prionochilus
Species:	P. maculatus
Binomial name
Prionochilus maculatus (Temminck, 1836)
Script error: The function "autoWithCaption" does not exist.

Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".

The yellow-breasted flowerpecker (Prionochilus maculatus) is a small, colorful bird. It belongs to the Dicaeidae family, also known as flowerpeckers. You can find this bird in several countries in Southeast Asia. These include Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Sadly, it is no longer found in Singapore.

This bird lives in warm, wet forests. It prefers subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and montane forests. These are forests found on mountains.

About the Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker

The scientific name for the yellow-breasted flowerpecker is Prionochilus maculatus. Scientists use these special names to identify each species. This bird is part of the Dicaeidae family. A famous Dutch zoologist named Coenraad Jacob Temminck first described this bird in 1836. He worked with a French scientist, Jules Meiffren-Laugier de Chartrouse.

Different Types of Yellow-breasted Flowerpeckers

There are four slightly different types, or subspecies, of the yellow-breasted flowerpecker:

• Prionochilus maculatus maculatus (Temminck, 1836)
• Prionochilus maculatus septentrionalis (Robinson & Kloss, 1921)
• Prionochilus maculatus oblitus (Mayr, 1938)
• Prionochilus maculatus natunensis (Chasen, 1935)

What Does This Bird Look Like?

The yellow-breasted flowerpecker is a very pretty bird. It has an olive green back. On top of its head, it has a bright orange patch. Its belly is yellow with black streaks on the sides.

Its eyes are red, and it has white feathers around its throat. The legs are gray. Both male and female birds look quite similar. However, females might have slightly different colors.

Male yellow-breasted flowerpeckers are about 7.5 to 11.8 inches long. Females are a bit smaller, around 7.8 to 7.9 inches. Their calls are high-pitched chirps. On average, these birds live for about 2.4 years.

Where Do They Live?

The yellow-breasted flowerpecker lives in subtropical forests. They like to search for food in the middle and upper parts of lowland forests. They also live in forests found at the bottom of hills. You can find them at the edges of these forests too.

These birds live across a wide area in southern Asia. They are native to Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. They used to live in Singapore but are now considered extinct there. These birds do not migrate. They stay in the same forest areas their whole lives.

What Do Yellow-breasted Flowerpeckers Eat?

The yellow-breasted flowerpecker mainly eats fruit. They also enjoy nectar and pollen from flowers. Their diet includes fruits from plants like:

• Benjamin fig
• Ficus villosa
• Melastoma malabathricum
• Straits rhododendron fruit
• Hairy Clidemia

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Yellow-breasted flowerpeckers usually breed during the summer. The exact time depends on where they live. Both parents take care of their young birds.

They build their nests using fern rhizomes (underground stems) and tree cotton. They make the nest stronger with spider webs. The nest has a special triangular entrance hole that points upwards. Overhanging leaves hide the nest. A female yellow-breasted flowerpecker usually lays two eggs. The eggs are white with brown spots and blotches, especially at one end.

How Are They Protected?

The number of yellow-breasted flowerpeckers in the world is currently stable. This means their population is not decreasing quickly. Because of this, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists them as a species of Least Concern. The IUCN last checked on this bird in October 2016.

Right now, there are no special rules or efforts to protect this bird. However, in the Malay Peninsula, they are considered "near threatened." This is because their forest homes might be lost in the future.