This colorful masked flowerpiercer was willing to allow a fairly close approach with the Sigma 180mm macro lens, finally allowing us to capture an image as frame-filling as we liked. Note the sharp downward hook at the very tip of the bill. Flowerpiercers use their bills to pierce the base of the flower and steal nectar from it without pollinating the stigma on the pistil/carpal of the flower. So when you watch a flowerpiercer, you may see it probing roughly with its bill near the base of a flower before inserting its bill into the small hole it made so it can lick out the nectar.