“Was a wet night followed by an overcast day, so after 1.5 hrs in the forest decided to watch at the brighter fringe. Visited this orchard located at the edge of the forest reserve. Was pleasantly surprised to find an adult male Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker (Prionochilus percussus ignicapilla) feeding on guava (Psidium guajava).
“This is the guava of my childhood, often called jambu batu (stone guava) – a bit on the hard side, smallish with lots of seeds. The ones sold today that are large, fleshy, sweet and seedless.
“I arrived when he did at the fruit and I watched for the next half hour as he progressively worked his way into the fruit. He was quite selective and often threw away bits that seemed ?hard (he had not reached the interior seed area yet, so these were not seeds).
“We reached a tacit agreement that he would feast on the fruit and I would feast on his beauty and behaviour. This unspoken ‘agreement’ allowed me to watch at 2-3 meter distance. I was even able to go get my tripod and do a few videos of the activity. When I bid farewell he was still busy feeding.
“Although know to eat mainly fruit I have yet to see reports of feeding on guava. Usually the fruit is much smaller.
“See this site on the Palawan Flowerpecker (Prionochilus plateni), similar to the Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker, feeding on a guava.”
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Kledang-Sayong Forest Reserve
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
31th July 2010
