Saturday, April 04, 2009

Big Pollinators


Hummingbird, possibly an Anna's Hummingbird, Daylily Hill. Notice the bright yellow pollen on this hummingbird's beak? Hummingbirds are key pollinators in their native environments. Look for long tubular flowers with nectar on the bottom and there is probably a hummingbird behind it (or maybe a moth). This hummingbird was enjoying the abundance of Aloe flowers at Daylily Hills Flower Fields. Besides Aloe, Hummingbirds are generally necessary to pollinate Heliconia in their native South American Habitat. When these plants are removed to habitats without hummingbirds (or maybe even a particular species of hummingbird), they are unable to be pollinated. Thus, if you go to Hawaii, you'll see lots of Heliconia and you never see Heliconia seed (all planted by man). On the other hand, you will see wild Ginger and notably Ginger is pollinated by bees!

1 comment:

Zoe Ann Hinds said...

As migratory birds hummingbirds serve two very important purposes: they transport resources between the tropical and temperate ecosystems located thousands of miles apart and they serve as pollinators. This is a vital service because many trees, flowers would not be able to reproduce without the aid of the hummingbird.

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