(White-throated | Legge's) Flowerpecker

A small, stub-tailed, thick-billed songbird, with dark upperparts, white throat, and yellow on the underside. Males are dark, blackish-blue above, while the duller females are gray on the upperside. Usually in pairs, within the treetops of wet forest and adjoining areas. The only similar species would be female sunbirds, which can be eliminated on bill shape; White-throated Flowerpecker possesses a stubby bill. Song is a series of ascending high notes, and call is a single very high-pitched “whit” note.

Habitat. It is mainly confined to lowland and foothill tall, moist forest up to 2,300 m. It has recently been recorded from disturbed sites close to primary forest probably because of the abundance of fruiting and flowering shrubs, on which it feeds, in such secondary habitats.

The latter features reflect the importance of nectar in its diet, although berries, spiders and insects are also taken.