Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker Dicaeum melanozanthum Scientific name definitions

11·5–13 cm. Male has head and upperparts slaty blue-black with slight gloss, upperwing and tail black, two outer pairs of tail feathers with large white patch on inner web (sometimes reduced or absent on penultimate feather); outermost primary (P10) not vestigial but short (as in Prionochilus); centre of throat and upper breast white, sides of neck and of breast dull greyish-black, rest of underparts bright yellow; iris red or chestnut; upper mandible black, lower mandible grey; legs black. Female is duller than male, has head, side of neck and upperparts, olive-grey, centre of throat and breast white, centre of belly and undertail-coverts pale yellow, flanks olive-yellow, less white on tail. Juvenile is mostly dull brown, with hint of white on throat and yellow on belly; immature male duller than adult, with brownish-grey upperparts.

Himalayas from N India (E Uttarakhand) and C Nepal E discontinuously to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur, NE Bangladesh, W & E Myanmar and S China (W & SW Sichuan S to W & S Yunnan). Non-breeding also S to N Thailand, N Laos and extreme N Vietnam.

Found in pine (Pinus) forest, in tall trees of open forest, clearings in rain­forest and also at forest edge. Present at altitudes of 1400–3915 m in summer, and usually 775–1550 m (though has been recorded up to 2450 m) in winter.

Seasonal altitudinal movements recorded. Non-breeding visitor in winter months to N Thailand, SE Yunnan (S China) and N Indochina.

Insects; probably also fruit, nectar and pollen, and in winter perhaps also leaves, of mistletoes (Loranthaceae). Solitary, elusive, generally more sluggish than smaller congeners. Sits upright on exposed perch often for lengthy periods. Sometimes flycatches by sallying.

Agitated “zit-zit-zit-zit”.

Nesting in Apr in Myanmar; juvenile in Jun in India, and males with enlarged testes in Jul in Nepal. Clutch 3 eggs, white. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Scarce and local in India, local in Nepal and rare in Bhutan; only two records from Bangladesh, where possibly only a vagrant; in Myanmar, not uncommon in S Shan States. Rare non-breeding visitor in N Thailand. Occurs in several protected areas, e.g. rare in Namdapha National Park, in NE India, and scarce non-breeding visitor in Doi Inthanon National Park, in NW Thailand.