Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
Prionochilus percussus
Family: Flowerpeckers · Status: Very rare visitor · Size: 10 cm · Conservation: Least Concern
Resident in Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, west Java, and Borneo.
Male is distinctive with blue-grey upperparts, yellow underparts, broad white malar stripe, and small crimson patches on central breast and midcrown. Females and juveniles are olive-brown above with dull orange crown patch, and mostly dull yellow or buffish-white below with a brighter yellow area running down the central underparts from breast to belly. Apart from the distinctive adult male, can be difficult to tell apart from Scarlet-breasted Flowerpecker, which has similar structure and only slightly thicker bill. Some features that can be used to separate them include: head and face-sides more olive and almost concolourous with upperparts (much greyer head than upperparts in Scarlet-breasted), and different pattern on underparts (more orange in Scarlet-breasted, which also lacks the central yellow stripe).
Lowland and peatswamp forest, forest edge, and secondary growth.
Mainly frugivorous.