Mistletoebird

The Mistletoebird is small, 9–10 cm long and 7.5–11 g weight. The male is glossy blue-black above, with a red chest and a slight red undertail, and a black centre stripe running down its white belly. The female is dark grey above, with a white throat, light grey underparts, and just a touch of pinkish-red under the tail. The eyes, bill and legs are black; the bill is just over a centimetre long, slender, slightly downcurved and sharply pointed. Immature birds are similar to the female, but have an orange-pink bill instead of black.

The Mistletoebird is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) is a species of flowerpecker native to most of Australia (though absent from Tasmania and the driest desert areas), and also to the eastern Maluku Islands of Indonesia in the Arafura Sea between Australia and New Guinea. They also must live where there are trees and shrubs, so that they can build their nests. The bird eats a variety of different foods such as berries and assorted types of insects. More

We have found Mistletoebirds in various parts of the Australian continent, primarily on the western side of the great dividing range, where we lived in 2003-2008. A regular guest at our place and also our former neighbour's property, we spotted Mistletoebirds a couple of times up to October 2006. More

Male Mistletoebird at nest. Male Mistletoebird at nest. Photo: SG Lane Collection © Australian Museum Distribution map of Dicaeum hirundinaceum Distribution map of Dicaeum hirundinaceum Map © Birds Australia Birdata Did you know? In cold weather, the Mistletoebird can undergo torpor, which is the slowing down of bodily functions to conserve energy. More

Mistletoebird Size:10cm Habitat: Widespread on the Australian mainland. This bird inhabits places where Mistletoe is present. Mainly eating Mistletoe berries. Notes: Male: black head, red throat and rump, with black stripe down white belly. Female: Grey/white bird with slight red rump. Breeds Spring-Summer For more information on Mistletoebird see references. Page | 1 | mistletoebird.jpg BF8C3280 copy.jpg BF8C3323 copy.jpg BF8C3324 copy.jpg mis. More

is the Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) shown in the photo above. It is a member of the flowerpecker family of birds. I was very pleased to have taken a photo of such a beautiful species. The photo shows a male in all of his colourful splendour. The female is less brightly coloured but still lovely. More

Some species, like the Mistletoebird of Australia, are recorded as being highly nomadic over parts of their range. Pale-billed Flowerpecker feeding on Muntingia calabura There is little variation between species in the family. Flowerpeckers are stout birds, with short necks and legs. These are small birds ranging from the 10-cm, 5.7-gram Pygmy Flowerpecker to the 18-cm, 12-gram Mottled Flowerpecker. Flowerpeckers have short tails, short thick curved bills and tubular tongues. More

The Mistletoebird eats a variety of different foods. Most commonly it eats the berries of the mistletoe plant, hence the name. It also has been found eating nectar, pollen, spiders, and insects in order to balance its diet. During harvest season the mistletoe bird eats grapes and vines of whose leaves have fallen off. Home The female Mistletoebird builds the nest by herself with no help from the male. More

A male Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum), photographed in mistletoe on a boree tree. I took the photo near Condobolin in NSW. EXIF: Canon EOS 50D : 1/250 sec : f/5.6 : 400 mm : ISO 160 Categories: Photoblogs.org - The Photoblogging Resource View My Profile coolphotoblogs.com Birding Top 500 Counter VFXY Photos Vazaar photo blogs, top photoblogs 3758744 visitors | 1000 photos | RSS 2. More

A male Mistletoebird not willing to wait for the fruit of the Strawberry Jam tree (Muntingia calabura) to ripen properly to its soft pink hue. More

clicks, but the musical ability of the mistletoebird is remarkable and mimics songs of many different Australian birds. In contrast, berrypeckers such as the crested berrypecker (Paramythia montium) are highly social birds, often occurring in groups of up to 12 birds; a large flock of 75 has been observed. They sometimes stand with tail cocked and raise their crests if excited or frightened. They fly in a jerky manner and are noisy in flight making low, short, calls. More

The following are some photographs of Mistletoebirds banded at Broome in September 1992. Female Mistletoebird The male is especially stunning. They are often heard, but can be hard to see at the top of trees. Male Mistletoebird Their preferred diet are the berries of mistletoe. I have also seen them feeding on the "peppercorn" trees at Northam near the weir. More

Mistletoebird at bird bath - Leave a comment »Saturday April 19th, 2008 I keep a daily eye on the bird baths in our garden. On several other occasions I have written about the visitors to the bird bath and I even have a list of those species to have paid at least one visit. More

Painted Honeyeater and Mistletoebird are examples of species that depend almost entirely on mistletoe as a food resource. Meet a handful of the many animals who would be miserable without mistletoe! Leaden Flycatcher Leaden Flycatcher Myiagra rubecula The leaden flycatcher feeds on insects and other invertebrates such as dragonflies, termites, beetles, flies and wasps. It constructs its cup-shaped nests from pieces of bark, held together by spider web. More

The Mistletoebird is the only Australian representative of the Flowerpeckers family - a large group of small birds most abundant in SE Asia. Like the honeyeaters, the Mistletoebird has a tongue adapted to nectar-eating. However its prefered food is the fruit of mistletoes and it has evolved a specialized digestive system for it. "The stomach is a blind sac, with an entrance that opens to admit food like insects requiring muscular digestion but is bypassed by more easily-digested food like mistletoe-fruit. More

This tiny relative of the Mistletoebird was supposed to occur only in New Guinea, and here it was on an Australian island! The discovery sent the birding world into a spin. Boatloads of twitchers headed off to this speck in Torres Strait, just a few kilometres off New Guinea's southern coast, in search of more Flowerpeckers. More

The mistletoebird, Dicaeum hirundinaceum, is unique in Australia for its specialised diet of mistletoe berries. Like other frugivorous dicaeids it has a relatively short alimentary tract. Unlike insect-eating passerine birds, the proventriculus, gizzard and duodenum of dicaeids are all in the same plane, allowing rapid passage of the large numbers of berries consumed. The gizzards of frugivorous dicaeids are much smaller and less muscular than those of insectivorous birds of similar size from the same areas. More