Naked-faced spiderhunter

The naked-faced spiderhunter (Arachnothera clarae) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae, of the passerines order. It is endemic to the Philippines.

Description
The naked-faced spiderhunter is a small to medium-sized passerine bird with a long, downward curved bill. The plumage is predominantly olive green, pale yellow on the abdomen, with olive yellow on the wings and faint streaking on the breast. A characteristic feature is a patch of orange bare skin at the base of the bill, which gives the species its name. Birds in the east-central part of the range have an additional naked patch just above the bill. The species somewhat resembles the orange-tufted spiderhunter, but is larger and darker underneath. The calls include a rough drill, "grrrrrrrrr!".

Distribution and systematics
The naked-faced spiderhunter occurs in the Philippines. There are four subspecies with the following distribution:


 * Arachnothera clarae luzonensis - found in the Sierra Madre mountain range on the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines.
 * Arachnothera clarae philippinensis - occurs on Samar, Leyte and Biliran in the eastern Philippines
 * Arachnothera clarae clarae - found in the Davao area of Mindanao island in the southern Philippines
 * Arachnothera clarae malindangensis - occurs in the central and western parts of Mindanao island in the southern Philippines.

Behaviour
The naked-faced spiderhunter is found in forests and shrublands in low-lying areas and lower mountains. It has a preference for banana flowers.

Status
The species has a wide range and its population is considered stable. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) therefore lists it as Least Concern (LC).

Name
It is not clear who the bird's scientific species name clarae refers to, but it may be in memory of Clara Blasius (1878-1880), the late sister of August Wilhelm Heinrich Blasius who described the species in 1890.