Yellow-bellied Sunbird-Asity Neodrepanis hypoxantha Scientific name definitions

9–10 cm. Tiny, short-tailed, with long, decurved bill, short legs. Breeding male has black crown, neck, mantle, scapulars, wing-coverts, tertials and rump, all widely edged iridescent royal blue; black wing feathers and tail; bright yellow underparts ; very large, carunculated wattle around eye , lime-green towards centre, mid-blue around edge; wattle extends forward nearly to bill, and a mid-green line extends along base of bill to nostril, blue above nostril; eyes brown; bill  blackish; legs and feet dark brown. Non-breeding male has olive-green from crown to rump, a few iridescent blue feathers, especially on rump, narrow paler olive tertial fringes; wing feathers and tail darker olive-brown; vivid deep yellow underparts, brightest on throat and breast, slightly washed olive on flanks and towards vent; a vestigial blue eye wattle, often just a blue spot behind or over eye. Female  similar to non-breeding male, but lacks iridescent feathering and vestigial wattle. Juvenile resembles female; after post-juvenile moult, has paler fringes on greater and median wing-coverts, and duller yellow breast and belly.

Patchily in rainforest of E Madagascar, from E slopes on Manongarivo in NW, S to Andohahela.

Canopy and subcanopy of montane rainforest ; areas with shrubby vegetation preferred. Occurs from c. 1100 m, mostly from 1400 m, to upper limit of arborescent vegetation, locally to 2650 m. Becomes more common at transition from mid-altitude forest to moss forest.

Possibly some altitudinal movement downslope in May–Jul cold season; otherwise, none known.

Mostly nectar, taken from wide variety of plant genera; feeds chiefly from pink, white and red flowers, especially parasitic ones, including Bakerella, also Impatiens humblotiana, Hedychium, Aframomum, Melastomataceae (e.g. Gravesia, Medinilla), Rubiaceae (e.g. Psychotria, Mussaenda, Gaertnera). Also some insects, caught by sallying from tops of low shrubs, or taken from dead leaf clumps or under loose bark. Moves very actively in canopy and subcanopy. Sometimes joins mixed-species flocks, especially during Jun–Sept.

Single squeaky note  , sometimes repeated at intervals of 1 second or more, occasionally faster.

Nesting observed in Nov–Jan. Probably polygynous. Displays  by male include hunch-display with head retracted, bill lowered to touch breast, crown feathers erected and tail depressed, also wing-flapping, also flipping around perch. Female builds suspended ovoid nest with entrance “porch”, largely of moss and leaf strips, 2–3 m from ground in the mid-storey. Clutch 2 eggs; chicks fed by both sexes.

VULNERABLE. Previously listed as Endangered. Restricted-range species: present in East Malagasy Wet Forests EBA. Has very small and severely fragmented range, within which extent of rainforest habitat appears to be diminishing. Its habitat, however, is not so threatened as are many in Madagascar. Recent observations indicate that this species is less rare than was previously believed, and even common in some places; probably occurs in all intact forest above c. 1200 m. Present in at least 10 protected areas, e.g. Ranomafana, Andringitra, Andohahela and Mantadia National Parks, Anjanaharibe-sud Special Reserve, and Perinet Special Reserve. Total population size not known, but thought possibly to number 10,000 or more adults. Main threat is habitat loss from uncontrolled bush fires and agricultural encroachment. Although higher-altitude forests in E Madagascar are more remote than other forest types, and therefore the last to be cleared for agriculture, they are nevertheless extremely fragmented, and also vulnerable to fire; in dry years, some of this species’ habitats suffer burning.