In May 2009, Jason Cho photographed a male Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum) among the Dendrophthoe pentandra mistletoe. This is one of the few birds that visit the mistletoe to harvest the nectar from the flowers. And in the process, the bird helps to pollinate the flowers.
Check out our earlier post on how a sunbird and a flowerpecker help to pollinate the mistletoe flowers.
This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
http://www.naturepixels.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8298
Bird Ecology Study Group » Orange-bellied Flowerpecker feeding on nectar
[…] have posted an account of the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum) harvesting nectar from the mistletoe […]
Richard Corlett
Flowerpeckers also disperse the seeds of this and other local mistletoes. I cannot think of any other local example of plants that are pollinated and dispersed by the same species!