Thick-billed Flowerpecker Dicaeum agile has an extremely large range in Asia (Pakistan to Lesser Sundas, east to Philippines) and an extremely small range in China, with pallescens resident southern Yunnan. HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Well-wooded areas in lowlands. Eats berries and nectar; also takes insects. Wags tail from side to side when perched. ID Drab, short-tailed, with a noticeably stout, grey bill. Crown, face, and mantle mostly brownish-grey, with more of an olive-green tone on rump and wings. Light buffy underparts faintly streaked. White throat and malar divided by dark lateral throat stripe. Juvenile lacks lateral throat stripe and streaking. Dark tail tipped white. BARE PARTS Feet grey; iris orange. Juvenile’s bill has paler base to mandible. VOICE Sharp, monotonous call, chip chip, lower-pitched than other flowerpeckers. — Craig Brelsford
THE FLOWERPECKERS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers every species in the family Dicaeidae in China. Click any link:
Thick-billed Flowerpecker Dicaeum agile
Yellow-vented Flowerpecker D. chrysorrheum
Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker D. melanozanthum
Plain Flowerpecker D. minullum
Fire-breasted Flowerpecker D. ignipectus
Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker D. cruentatum
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
