The olive-crowned flowerpecker (''Dicaeum pectorale'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the

flowerpecker The flowerpeckers are a family, Dicaeidae, of passerine birds. The family comprises two genera, ''Prionochilus'' and ''Dicaeum'', with 50 species in total. The family has sometimes been included in an enlarged sunbird family Nectariniidae. The b ...

family, Dicaeidae. It is found in far western

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and on adjacent islands. It is a small bird, with males having olive upperparts, greyish-green underparts, a white throat and a scarlet breast patch. Females are similar to males, but lack the scarlet breast patch. It is mainly

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance and ...

, also supplementally feeding on spiders.

Taxonomy and systematics

The olive-crowned flowerpecker is one of 41 species in the genus

Dicaeum '' Dicaeum '' is a genus of birds in the flowerpecker family Dicaeidae, a group of passerines tropical southern Asia and Australasia from India east to the Philippines and south to Australia. The genus ''Dicaeum'' is closely related to the gen ...

. It is sometimes considered to be conspecific with the

red-capped flowerpecker The red-capped flowerpecker (''Dicaeum geelvinkianum'') is a small passerine bird endemic to, and widespread within, New Guinea and adjacent islands. It has recently been split from the olive-crowned flowerpecker ''Dicaeum pectorale''. Identifi ...

, Louisiade flowerpecker, or the Halmahera flowerpecker.Coates, Brian J. & William S. Peckover (2001), ''Birds of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago: a photographic guide'', Dove Publications, Alderley, Australia. The olive-crowned flowerpecker was first described by Saloman Müller in 1843. The generic name ''Dicaeum'' is from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

δικαιον (''dikaion''), most likely referring to the

scarab beetle The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

, while the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''pectorale'' is from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''pectoralis'' (of the breast).

Subspecies

There are two recognised subspecies of the olive-crowned flowerpecker: * ''D. p. pectorale'' – Müller, 1843 : The nominate subspecies, it is found in northwestern New Guinea and on

Waigeo Waigeo is an island in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands Raja Ampat, or the ''Four Kings'', is an archipelago loc ...

Batanta Batanta is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Its area is 453 km² and its highest point is 1184 m. The Pitt Strait separates it from Salawati, while the Dampier Strait separate ...

Salawati Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua (formerly West Papua), Indonesia. Its area is 1,623 km2. Salawati is separated from New Guinea to the southeast by the Sele Strait (a.k.a. Galowa Strai ...

, and

Misool Misool, formerly spelled Mysol (Dutch: Misoöl) or Misol, is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. Its area is 2,034 km2. The highest point is 561 m and the main towns are Waigama, located ...

. * ''D. p. ignotus'' – Mees, 1964: Found on Gebe Island. It has more olive upperparts and slightly larger wings and bill than the nominate.

Description

The olive-crowned flowerpecker is a small bird, in length and weighing . Nominate males have

olive green Olive is a dark yellowish-green color, like that of unripe or green olives. As a color word in the English language, it appears in late Middle English. Shaded toward gray, it becomes olive drab. Variations Olivine Olivine is the typical ...

upperparts and crown, yellowish rumps, grey-green underparts, yellowish-white central abdomen and undertail coverts, white throats, and a large scarlet patch on breast. Females are similar to males, but lack the scarlet throat patch and have yellower center of abdomen and undertail coverts. Juveniles are similar to females, but have more olive underparts. Vocalisations include a short, insect-like buzzing note, a single, high upslurred note, and a drawn-out ''chew'', repeated at intervals.

Distribution and habitat

The olive-headed flowerpecker is found throughout lowlands in western New Guinea and on nearby islands. It inhabits forest canopy up to altitudes of , although it can be found up to altitudes of . It is common to uncommon throughout its range.

Behaviour and ecology

Diet

Like other flowerpeckers, the olive-headed flowerpecker feed mainly on fruit, especially

figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

and

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

. It also supplements its diet with

spiders Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species dive ...

. Foraging is done in the canopy, either alone or in pairs.

References

olive-crowned flowerpecker Birds of the Maluku Islands Birds of West Papua olive-crowned flowerpecker Taxa named by Salomon Müller {{Dicaeidae-stub