“I often feel then name ‘spiderhunter’ is inapt, as I have seldom seen spiderhunters take spiders as prey. The diet is more often fruits and nectar from a variety of flowers LINK. Of course, being used to that name for almost 40 years, I cannot think of them as any other name!
“Saw this Grey-breasted Spiderhunter (Arachnothera modesta modesta), high in the canopy, stop to feed on spiders. It was part of a large mixed foraging party comprising a variety of leafbirds, 4 species of bulbuls, flowerpeckers, Eastern Crowned Warbler (Phylloscopus coronatus) and others.”
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
28th January 2014
Location: Kledang-Sayong Forest Reserve, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Habitat: A trail through primary jungle of the forest reserve
Bird Ecology Study Group Blue-throated Bee-eater caught a bee
[…] with a bee clamped between its bill is as refreshing as that of a spiderhunter catching a spider LINK. Because of what they are commonly called, people expect them to live up to their names. But then […]