Golden-rumped Flowerpecker – Pachyglossa annae

Endemic species “Level 2**” (“star“) – published on 22nd of April 2020
Page fully published with ECOLODGES INDONESIA
See Dicaeidae family (flowepeckers, mistletoebird)
In French: Dicée de la Sonde en français

This relatively dull flowerpecker only exists on two small Sunda Islands, Sumbawa, and Flores. It lives in forests and woodlands and can be adapted locally to non-industrial agricultural areas, which offer enough fruit trees, which explains why it is not threatened despite its limited distribution. Besides, it is encountered from sea level up to 1800 meters above sea level.

There is no publication on his behavior. We can watch it eating fruits, berries, nectar, and pollen, as in other birds of the family. There are no data on the nesting period or the respective tasks of the parents when breeding, but nests have been seen (see photos below): these are oval pockets made of various plant fibers fixed with spider web. Two juveniles are usually produced per season.

Ecolodge Mbeliling is an excellent spot to meet this localised endemic

After 18 days around Labuan Bajo to watch the birds of the lowlands, we still did not have a beautiful portrait of the Golden-rumped Flowerpecker. It is, however, present, and we had had sightings, often distant, of isolated individual feeding actively as the Dicaeidae usually do. On the first day at the Ecolodge, we saw a male singing at eye-level along a path.

The next day, just two hundred meters away, we found another adult collecting food, near the road that goes under the lodge.

We thought that the nest might not be far but probably well hidden. To our surprise, the bird moved to a nearby tree and fed its two offspring without being concerned by the traffic of cars and pedestrians while the nest is only two meters from the road. It is, therefore, easily visible while standing on the tarmac, and photos could be taken without causing the slightest disturbance. A stroke of great luck! We never try to approach an active nest, and we picture them only if the birds are not impacted by our presence.

It is, therefore, with joy that we publish this species as the second in our species list from the Ecolodge Mbeliling, after the Flame-throated Sunbird.

Text by Valéry Shollaert
and Marinella Mejia

Taxonomy and subspecies

The genus Pachyglossa is still often included in Dicaeum. The birds of Sumbawa are slightly smaller and more olive-coloured above ; they are thus sometimes separated in a distinct subspecies (P. a. sumbavense). The Golden-rumped Flowerpecker is very distinct from all the others and no sister species has been found.

[Species #843 of the Holistic Encyclopedia of Birds project]

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