Alternate Name: Yellow-bellied Asity; Small-billed Asity
- Neodrepanis hypoxantha
Identification
9 - 10cm (3½-4 in). A tiny, short-tailed bird with a long, decurved bill
Male
- Black crown, neck, mantle and upperparts all widely edged with iridiscent royal blue
- Black wing feathers and tail
- Bright yellow underparts
- Large lime-green and mid-blue wattle around eye
- Non-breeding male olive-green from crown to rump with a few iridescent feathers, wings and tail darker olive-brown, eye wattle very small
Female
- Olive-green upperparts, wing and tail darker olive
- Bright yellow underparts
Distribution
Patchily in the rainforest belt of eastern Madagascar.
A restricted-range species with a very small and fragmented range.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Habitat
Low, mossy, humid, upper montane, evergreen woodland, preferring areas with shrubby vegetation. Occurs from 1100m (mainly from 1400m) up to 2650m. Usually higher up than Common Sunbird-Asity.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds mostly on nectar, takes sometimes insects.
Joins sometimes mixed-species flocks.
Breeding
Nesting recorded in November to January. Probably a polygynous species. The female builds a suspended ovoid nest made of moss and leaf stripes. Lays 2 eggs.
Movements
Movements not known, probably some altitudinal movement.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2003. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8: Broadbills to Tapaculos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334504
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Yellow-bellied Sunbird-Asity. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-bellied_Sunbird-Asity
