Legge's flowerpecker (Dicaeum vincens) or the white-throated flowerpecker, is a small passerine bird. It is an endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka. It is named after the Australian ornithologist William Vincent Legge.[2]
| Legge's flowerpecker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A male on the grounds of the Blue Magpie Lodge, Sri Lanka | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Dicaeidae |
| Genus: | Dicaeum |
| Species: | D. vincens |
| Binomial name | |
| Dicaeum vincens (Sclater, PL, 1872) | |
The Legge's flowerpecker is a common resident breeding bird of forests and other well-wooded habitats including gardens. Two eggs are laid in a purse-like nest suspended from a tree.
Description
This is a very small passerine but a relatively stout flowerpecker, measuring 10 cm (3.9 in) in total length and weighing approximately 9 g (0.32 oz),[3] with a short tail, short thick curved bill and tubular tongue. The latter features reflect the importance of nectar in its diet, although berries, spiders and insects are also taken.
The male Legge's flowerpecker has blue-black upperparts, a white throat and upper breast, and yellow lower breast and belly. The female is duller, with olive-brown upperparts.
In culture
In Sri Lanka, this bird is known as Lanka Pilalichcha in Sinhala. This bird appears in a one rupee Sri Lankan postal stamp.[4]
References
- Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6
External links
- Flowerpecker videos on the Internet Bird Collection