Mistletoebird

Mistletoebird
Male in Canberra, Australia
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Dicaeidae
Genus:	Dicaeum
Species:	D. hirundinaceum
Binomial name
Dicaeum hirundinaceum (Shaw & Nodder, 1792)

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.^[2]

Taxonomy

Genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA of 70% of flowerpecker species showed the Mistletoebird and Red-capped Flowerpecker (D. geelvinkianum) to be each other's closest relative.^[3]

Description

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.^[2]

There are four subspecies, which differ in plumage details, primarily of the males:^[2]

• Dicaeum hirundinaceum hirundinaceum Shaw & Nodder, 1792. Australia. Extensive red on throat and chest; flanks grey.
• Dicaeum hirundinaceum keiense Salvadori, 1874. Watubela archipelago, Indonesia. Red on chest limited.
• Dicaeum hirundinaceum ignicolle G. R. Gray, 1858. Aru Islands, Indonesia. Flanks yellow-buff.
• Dicaeum hirundinaceum fulgidum P. L. Sclater, 1883. Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia. Flanks buff, red on chest limited, and throat pale buff.

Food

The Mistletoebird eats a variety of different foods. It commonly eats the berries of mistletoes (hence the name) and other plants. The diet also includes nectar, pollen, spiders, and insects.

The species consumes the fruit of Amyema quandang (grey mistletoe), ignored by other fruit-consuming birds, that has led to a state of mutualism.^[4]

Breeding

The female Mistletoebird builds the nest by herself with no help from the male. The nest is made of crushed plants and spider webs, which holds it together and holds it to the tree. She will lay the eggs in the nest and look after them till they hatch. When they have hatched both parents will feed them.

By eating the mistletoe, this bird is able to spread the seeds, which is a parasitic plant. When the birds eat the berries, the seeds pass through them, which takes anywhere from 4–25 minutes. Then when they excrete the seeds, they are sticky and stick to the branch of a tree and sprout.

Gallery

• 

  Female mistletoebird feeding babies in nest south of Perth, Western Australia

• 

  3 young mistletoebirds in the nest near many casuarina trees with mistletoe plants

• 

  Baby mistletoebirds waiting for the next feed

• 

  Young mistletoebird leaving the nest for the first time

References

1. ^ BirdLife International 2004. Dicaeum hirundinaceum. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 February 2008.
2. ^ ^{a b c} del Hoyo, J. et al., eds. (2008). Handbook of the Birds of the World 13: 388. ISBN 9788496553453.
3. ^ Nyária, Árpád S.; Peterson, A. Townsend ; Rice, Nathan H.; Moyle, Robert G. (2009). "Phylogenetic relationships of flowerpeckers (Aves: Dicaeidae): Novel insights into the evolution of a tropical passerine clade". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53 (3): 613–19. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.06.014. PMID 19576993. 
4. ^ Reid, Nick (Published Online: 28 Jul 2006). "Mutualistic interdependence between mistletoes (Amyema quandang), and spiny-cheeked honeyeaters and mistletoebirds in an arid woodland". Austral Ecology (Ecological Society of Australia) 15 (2): 175–190. doi:10.1111/j.1442-9993.1990.tb01526.x.