Yellow-rumped Honeyguide

The yellow-rumped honeyguide is a sparrow-sized bird with a stout, finch-like bill, found mainly in montane forests along the Himalayas. The plumage is largely dusky olive, the forehead and lores orange, and the rump deep orange grading to sulphur yellow on the back. The bill is yellow, dark towards the tip. Females have less yellow on the face and a yellow rump without the orange (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is recorded from the Himalayan regions of India into Nepal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan, where it is relatively common. It perches on honeycombs and feeds on wax, mainly the foundation wax that attaches the combs of the giant Himalayan honey bee to rocks, without disturbing the bees much. Males defend three-dimensional territories around bee nests hanging from cliffs. It is a brood parasite, probably of barbets.