Scarlet-collared Flowerpecker
Also known as: Dicaeum retrocinctum (scientific name) · Mindoro flowerpecker (descriptive name)
Definition
Scarlet-collared flowerpecker (Dicaeum retrocinctum) is a small bird of the flowerpecker family Dicaeidae, about ten centimeters long, endemic to the Philippines and found only on the island of Mindoro. It inhabits tropical moist lowland forest below about 1,000 meters — the canopy, forest edge, and open country with scattered trees — where it feeds on mistletoe berries and small fruits. Together with the critically endangered Cebu flowerpecker, it is one of the two threatened flowerpeckers of the Philippines. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Scarlet-collared flowerpecker |
| Wikidata | Q2742607 |
| DBpedia | N/A |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | N/A |
| MeSH | N/A |
| NCBI Taxonomy | Dicaeum retrocinctum |
| AGROVOC | N/A |
| Google Scholar | Dicaeum retrocinctum scarlet-collared flowerpecker Mindoro endemic conservation |
| ConceptNet | bird |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Dicaeum retrocinctum (scientific name)
- Mindoro flowerpecker (descriptive name)
Examples and Analogies
- A Thimble-Sized Jewel with a Red Necklace: The bird’s namesake scarlet collar rings its dark throat like a pendant on a bird light enough to sit on a loading-scale coin.
- Mistletoe’s Gardener: Like other flowerpeckers, it swallows mistletoe berries and wipes the sticky seeds onto branches, effectively planting its own food supply.
Usage Scenarios
1. Mindoro Birdwatching Specialties
Tour leaders scanning Mount Halcon foothills and Sablayan lowlands include this island endemic as a target species alongside Mindoro’s other restricted-range birds.
2. Endangered-Species Monitoring
Provincial conservation teams survey lowland forest fragments to track the flowerpecker as an indicator of the health of Mindoro’s threatened avifauna.
Strategies
- Protect remaining lowland forest corridors rather than only montane tracts, since the species keeps mainly to elevations below 1,000 meters.
- Retain mistletoe-bearing trees in agroforestry landscapes, as these parasitic plants are a core food source for flowerpeckers.
Security and Safety Measures
- Support quarantine and biosecurity on Mindoro to keep invasive threats from compounding habitat pressure on island endemics.
- Keep collection and banding activities strictly within permitted scientific protocols for a threatened endemic species.
Historical Context
The species was described in the nineteenth century from Mindoro specimens collected as naturalists catalogued the island’s distinctive fauna, and the twentieth century’s opening of Mindoro’s lowlands to logging and agriculture steadily contracted its range. Modern surveys have located it in surviving forest patches and scattered-tree countryside, placing it among the threatened Philippine endemics that conservation planning for Mindoro now tries to keep from sliding toward the brink occupied by the Cebu flowerpecker. (Wikipedia)
Challenges and Controversies
Lowland Forest Loss on Mindoro
Logging, kaingin, and agricultural conversion have removed most of the island’s original lowland forest, the flowerpecker’s core habitat.
Small Range, Fast Decline
Confined to a single island, the species has no safety net — a single bad decade of habitat loss can push a restricted-range bird toward endangerment.
Related Topic
Cebu Flowerpecker