Cebu Flowerpecker

Four-color Mistelfresser ( Dicaeum quadricolor )

The four-color Mistelfresser ( Dicaeum quadricolor ), also known as Cebu Flower Picker, is a rare songbird of the family of Mistelfresser, which is endemic to the Philippine island of Cebu and threatened by the IUCN as endangered ( " critically endangered " ) is classified.

Description

The four-color Mistelfresser reached a size 11 to 12 centimeters. The male is characterized by a large, triangular, scarlet to vermilion coat stain. The lower back is ocher with greenish approach. Back, neck, head and sides of neck, wings and tail are glossy blue-black. The underside is pale yellow. Chin, belly center, armpits, under tail-coverts, and under wing-coverts are white. The flanks are washed out light olive. In the female, the top is brown. The head is slightly faded olive, the back, wing-coverts and the outer webs of the secondaries are washed out strong olive. The rump is almost entirely olive-yellow. The underside is gray-white with faint olivgelben approach that is brighter towards the abdominal and thoracic center. The under wing-coverts, the armpits and the inner webs of the quills are white.

Habitat and behavior

The four-color Mistelfresser is a forest dweller and comes at altitudes up to 500 meters in front. Its diet consists of berries flower belt vegetation and small ripe fig fruits.

Endangering

In scientific first description in 1877 by Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale of the four-color Mistelfresser was still considered relatively common. In the 1890s Cebus forests have been heavily cleared and its habitat in the terra typica in Toledo City was completely destroyed. Between 1906 and 1992 he was considered extinct until it was rediscovered by the ornithologist Rob Timmins in a forest fragment in Tabunan. Today there are less than 100 individuals in the regions of Tabunan, Nug -As, Dalaguete and at Mount Lantoy. 1996, a strictly protected zone in Central Cebu National Park was created to preserve the species from extinction.