Slaty Flowerpiercer

[Ely Teehankee]

Just as the name implies the Slaty Flowerpiercer (Diglossa plumbea) is a bird that uses its bill to pierce the base of flowers and extracts the nectar through the hole with its brush like tongue. The Slaty Flowerpiercer has a dark hook tipped upper mandible and an upturned pinkish lower mandible enabling it to easily make a hole on the base of flowers and epiphytes. They are found in overgrown forest edges and flowering shrubs of 1200 meters to above timberline. They are endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and Western Panama.



Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Canon EF 300mm
f/2.8L IS USM with Canon Extender 2X II.
Gitzo GT3530LS tripod, Wimberley WH200 head. Manual exposure in available light.


Take note that the flower besides her is broken at the base meaning that the bird has succeeded in piercing the lower base and extracted the nectar causing the flower to break at the part where it has been pierced earlier.
1/1600 sec., f/8, ISO 800




She now goes looking for a fresh flower that she can pierce her hook bill and extract the nectar with her brush like tongue.
1/1250 sec., f/8, ISO 800




She tries to get a foothold of the candidate flower but has difficulty in getting her balance.
1/1250 sec., f/8, ISO 800




A part of the stem is pierce in between her dark upperbill and lower pink bill.
1/1250 sec., f/8, ISO 800




Finally I got her in the act of piercing the base of a fresh flower to enable her to drink the nectar.
1/1250 sec., f/8, ISO 800




It is so fascinating to watch the bird in action. On another occasion I saw this bird taking a break.
1/100 sec., f/5.6, ISO 1600




Here you can clearly see how dark the upper mandible is and you can also see the pink lower mandible.
1/160 sec., f/5.6, ISO 1600




Here you see him rise slightly from his resting position in the previous pictures. He hears a mate calling.
1/160 sec., f/5.6, ISO 1600




He opens his beak slightly to respond to the call.
1/160 sec., f/5.6, ISO 1600




I like this setting best of all. You can see him perch on a perfect arc of flowers as if it was made just for him to have his picture taken. But in reality this is all in the wild that makes bird photography very interesting and exciting.
1/160 sec., f/5.6, ISO 1600

[Mick Harris]

Wonderful series Ely.

[tina mallari]

awesome set Ely but some of the photos almost look identical ;-)

[Ely Teehankee]

May 14, 2012 17:34:10 GMT Mick Harris said:

Wonderful series Ely.

Thank you Mick. It is always interesting and exciting to come across a new specie and to learn their traits.

[Ely Teehankee]

May 15, 2012 10:50:01 GMT tina mallari said:

awesome set Ely but some of the photos almost look identical ;-)

Thank you Tina. You are right they look the same. I like processing the pictures and decided to used them to complete the story. Thank you for making me aware of it.