The black-belted flowerpecker (''Dicaeum haematostictum'') or Visayan flowerpecker, is a species of bird in the family Dicaeidae. It is endemic to the Philippines where it is restricted to

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

and Guimaras islands. It was formerly regarded as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the more widespread red-keeled flowerpecker (''D. australe''). Sometimes the name ''red-keeled flowerpecker'' is used for ''D. haematostictum'' and ''D. australe'' is then known as the red-sided flowerpecker.

Description

EBird describes the bird as "A small bird of forest and fairly open woodland from the lowlands to lower elevations in the mountains. Black above, glossed blue, with white underparts marked by a red patch from the chest to the belly, bordered with black around the top. Note the fairly long slender bill. Similar to Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, but has black above the red patch rather than below. Voice includes high-pitched piping as well as “chik!” notes more typical of a flowerpecker." It is seen feeding on flowering and fruiting trees.

Habitat and conservation status

It inhabits tropical moist lowland forest up to 1,000 meters above sea level. It prefers primary forest and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

but has been known to visit cultivations and coconut plantations IUCN has assessed this bird as least concern with the population being estimated at 6,000 to 15,000 mature individuals. This species' main threat is habitat loss. Habitat loss on both

and

has been extensive. Primary forests have been almost totally destroyed on Negros (where just 4% of any type of forest cover remained in 1988) and Panay (where 8% remained). Habitat degradation, through clearance for agriculture, timber and charcoal-burning, continues to pose a serious threat to remaining fragments. It is already possibly extinct on Guimaras. It occurs on a few protected areas

Northern Negros Natural Park The Northern Negros Natural Park is a protected area of the Philippines located in the northern mountainous forest region of the island of Negros in the Visayas. It is spread over five municipalities and six cities in the province of Negros Occide ...

and Mt. Canlaon National Park and Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park. Conservation actions proposed include to conduct surveys in potentially suitable habitat in order to calculate density estimates, and calculate remaining extent of suitable habitat to refine the population estimate and promote areas where it is present to be protected. Promote more effective protection of the

and other remaining lowland forest tracts in the Western Visayas.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
black-belted flowerpecker Birds of Panay Birds of Negros Island Fauna of Guimaras black-belted flowerpecker Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Dicaeidae-stub