Fruit and flowers form the bulk of their diet, including native grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea spp.), and tea-tree (Melaleuca spp.), Loranthus, and the introduced loquat (Eriobotrya japonica).
Some species of Loranthus, in the broad sense, are troublesome parasites, for example they occur in Kerala India as a menace on mango trees (Mangifera indica), a majority of the Anogeissus latifolia trees in the Biligirirangan Hills of Karnataka are infected by Loranthus sp.
Unlike the Pale-billed Flowerpecker, it does not swallow the berries of Loranthus (some species now in genus Dendrophthoe) and instead wipes the seeds on a branch and feeds on the epicarp.