Spectacled Spiderhunter collecting nectar

Posted by BESG on 24 June 08, Tuesday
Contributed by Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman

Spidethunters, as the name implies, is supposed to feed on spiders. However, there has been “no record of web-robbing” (Wells, 2007) as its animal diet is not known.

Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman managed to photograph a Spectacled Spiderhunter (Arachnothera flavigaster) hovering in front of a bunch of banana flowers collecting nectar from the flowers.

As Dr Redzian writes, “This picture describes very well why Malays call it ‘Kelicap Jantung’ meaning bird that feeds on ‘jantung pisang’ (banana heart).”

It is well known that this spiderhunter feeds on nectar from flowers of banana (Musa), coconut (Cocos nucifera), African tulip (Spathodea campanulata), durian (Durio zibethinus) and Jacaranda filicifolia. What is not known is its animal food.

Reference:
Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.

Related Posts:

Little Spiderhunter: Nectar from banana flowers An earlier post gave an account of a Spectacled Spiderhunter... African Tulip: Bulbul collecting nectar The African tulip (Spathodea campanulata) is a native of tropical... Cannas and nectar harvest Cannas are popular border plants with large, showy flowers of... Red-breasted Parakeet and African Tulip seeds The Red-breasted Parakeet (Psittacula alexandri) has been documented by... Black-naped Oriole manipulating the Banana Skipper Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) eats a broad range of... Olive-backed Sunbird taking spider Lee Tiah Khee photographed this male Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Email Post

Categories: Feeding-plants

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Anti-spam word: (Required)*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.