Mistletoebird, male.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Mistletoebird, female.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Mistletoebird, female.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Male Mistletoebird at nest.
Photo: SG Lane Collection © Australian Museum
Distribution map of Dicaeum hirundinaceum
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Mistletoebird
Scientific name: Dicaeum hirundinaceum
Family: Dicaeidae
Order: Passeriformes
What does it look like?
Description
The small Mistletoebird is the only Australian representative of the flowerpecker family, Dicaeidae, and is also known as the Australian Flowerpecker. Males have a glossy blue-black head, wings and upperparts, a bright red throat and chest, a white belly with a central dark streak and a bright red undertail. Females are grey above, white below, with a grey streak on the belly, and a paler red undertail. Young birds resemble females but are paler and have an orange, rather than dark, bill. These birds are swift and erratic fliers, moving singly or in pairs, usually high in or above the canopy.
Similar species
Male Mistletoebirds may superficially resemble Red-headed Honeyeaters or Scarlet Honeyeaters in having a red and black colouring, but these two honeyeaters have red heads, while the Mistletoebird has a black head, lacks their long, curved bills, while also being stockier and smaller overall. Mistletoebirds may also be distinguished from the red robins (Petroica species) by having a much shorter tail, a totally dark head (no contrasting cap or spot) and a red undertail.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The Mistletoebird is found throughout mainland Australia. It is also found in Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia.
Habitat
The Mistletoebird is found wherever mistletoe grows and is important in the dispersal of this plant species.
Seasonal movements
Nomadic out of breeding season.
What does it do?
Feeding
The Mistletoebird is highly adapted to its diet of mistletoe berries. It lacks the muscular gizzard (food-grinding organ) of other birds, instead having a simple digestive system through which the berries pass quickly, digesting the fleshy outer parts and excreting the sticky seeds onto branches. The seed can then germinate quickly into a new plant. In this way, the Mistletoebird ensures a constant supply of its main food. It will also catch insects, mainly to provide food for its young.
Breeding
The Mistletoebird builds a silky, pear-shaped nest with a slit-like entrance, made from matted plant down and spider web, which is suspended from a twig in the outer foliage of a tree. The female alone builds the nest and incubates the eggs, while both sexes feed the young.
References
Longmore, N.W. 1991. The Honeyeaters and their Allies of Australia. Angus and Robertson and The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Sydney.
Simpson, K and Day, N. 1999. Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition. Penguin Books, Australia.