Masked Flowerpiercer, Tandayapa Lodge, Ecuador

Another Way to the Nectar


Hummingbirds, with their wildly variable bills, are adapted to extract nectar from flowers, and in the process to transfer pollen between blossoms, like bees and other insects. But the endless diversity of birds has coughed up two genuses of birds that cheat. Flowerpiercers extract nectar from blossoms, too, but they go directly to the source,…