Whizz in, pivot, hop, hop, hop, crisscross two or three twigs and pivot again, hop once more, then zip away!

Small and spry bundles of pure adrenalin (like some of our Little Farm House pre-schoolers) – that’s what golden-bellied flyeaters are. They’re much quicker and more active than the similarly-sized white-eyes, dashing in groups of up to half a dozen or so from one treetop to the next.

It’s hard to catch up with the little speedsters. They seldom stay put in one place. Tracking them is a chore, made more difficult by the fact that I’ve had no choice but to manually focus the camera ever since the AF function of the zoom lens conked out again a few months back (and I’m not about to spend another couple of thousand pesos to have it repaired anew).

But good things come to those who stalk and wait. These guys (or gals) paused just long enough for me to rattle off a series of shots, and about a fifth turned out decently clear.

Not really uncommon in these parts, the golden-bellied flyeater (also known as the yellow-bellied gerygone or the yellow-breasted flyeater, among other aliases) is, however, usually too fleet of wing and foot for one to get more than a glimpse of it.

Feel the need for speed to know more about it? Then click on these links to the Mangoverde World Bird Guide and The Internet Bird Collection site.

Posted in: Better Earth, Photo Gallery | | November 2009