As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 23 November 2012

High-Speed Video and Artificial Flowers Shed Light On Mysteries of Hummingbird-Pollinated Flowers


ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2012) — How flowers have evolved particular colours, shapes and scents to attract pollinators has long fascinated ecologists. Now, using artificial flowers and high-speed video, researchers have gained intriguing insights into the intimate relationship between hummingbirds and the flowers they pollinate. The study, published in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology, is the first to measure how much energy hummingbirds use while hovering to feed from flowers of different orientation.

Hummingbirds are among the smallest and most brightly-coloured birds on Earth, and one of the only types of bird capable of hovering for long periods. They are also crucial pollinators of flowering plants across the Americas. Hummingbird-pollinated flowers are usually red, tubular-shaped and have no smell, characteristics that have been well-studied by ecologists. Why most hummingbird-pollinated flowers hang down vertically, however, has remained a mystery.

Working with Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) – the most common hummingbird species on their university campus – Dr Nir Sapir and Dr Robert Dudley of the University of California, Berkeley built a series of artificial “flowers”. The artificial flowers, which pointed horizontally, vertically-downwards or were tilted 45 degrees downward, supplied nectar to the birds.

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