Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

Fascinating facts about the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

• A 1747 illustration by English naturalist George Edwards introduced the scarlet-backed flowerpecker to science, long before Carl Linnaeus gave it the binomial Certhia cruentata in his 1758 Systema Naturae, showing how early European collectors relied on specimens shipped from Bengal to piece together Asian bird diversity.
• At just 9 cm (3.5 in) long and 7–8 g (0.25–0.28 oz) in weight, this passerine is barely bigger than a thumb, yet the male flashes a navy-blue body with a bold red stripe down its back, a vivid contrast that helps birdwatchers spot it in dense tropical understory.
• Mitochondrial DNA from about 70 % of flowerpecker species shows the scarlet-backed’s closest living cousin is the black-fronted flowerpecker of the Lesser Sunda Islands, both having red plumage on their backs.
• Six recognized subspecies stretch from the eastern Himalayas across Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand to the islands of Sumatra, Nias, Batu, Mentawai, Simeulue, and Borneo, illustrating how this tiny bird has colonized a wide swath of South and East Asian lowland forests up to 1000 m (3500 ft) altitude.
• The bird builds a pouch-shaped nest that hangs from a high branch and includes a side entrance, typical of the flowerpecker family.

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