Spiderhunter?

Papilio · 20th April 2004

Whilst out on a scientific expedition with some Malaysian naturalists at Endau-Rompin Forest Reserve, this chap was busy sticking its beak into the banana flowers and having a fill of the pollen and whatever it could find in the flowers. Looks like a messy eater with all that stuff covering its long beak.

Just a snapshot of it taken with the 80-400VR at 400mm and handheld with fill flash. Is this one of the species of Spiderhunters?

mphil · 20th April 2004

My guess is that it is a Long-Billed Spiderhunter, I could be wrong. Did you use the autofocus on the lens or manual? Looks pretty sharp to me.

Papilio · 20th April 2004

Originally Posted by mphil

My guess is that it is a Long-Billed Spiderhunter, I could be wrong. Did you use the autofocus on the lens or manual? Looks pretty sharp to me.

Thanks for the ID. I'm a totally AF person, so yes, I depended on the lens' AF. Anyway, this chap was quite skittish, and it was not easy to capture it in an 'ideal' pose. Handholding the VR was the best bet I could do with shooting something like this.

20th April 2004	#1
Papilio Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Central Singapore Posts: 973	Spiderhunter? Whilst out on a scientific expedition with some Malaysian naturalists at Endau-Rompin Forest Reserve, this chap was busy sticking its beak into the banana flowers and having a fill of the pollen and whatever it could find in the flowers. Looks like a messy eater with all that stuff covering its long beak. Just a snapshot of it taken with the 80-400VR at 400mm and handheld with fill flash. Is this one of the species of Spiderhunters?

20th April 2004	#2
mphil Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 466	My guess is that it is a Long-Billed Spiderhunter, I could be wrong. Did you use the autofocus on the lens or manual? Looks pretty sharp to me.