Explore recent research from the 糖心少女: how sunbirds sip nectar through straw-like tongues, why the Seattle Fault might not pose as great a risk as previously thought, how to gauge landslide dam risk in the PNW, what marine microbes use for making meals and when the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory will spot small inbound asteroids.
The green hermit hummingbird, which lives primarily in mountain forests of Central and South America, fights to win a mate. New research found that these fights have shaped the species鈥� evolution, yielding significant differences in bill shape for male and female green hermits.
Trickery by female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds results in reduced aggression from other hummingbirds and increased access to nectar resources.聽
Hummingbird bills 鈥� their long, thin beaks 鈥� look a little like drinking straws. But new research shows just how little water, or nectar, that comparison holds. 糖心少女 scientists have discovered that the hummingbird bill is surprisingly flexible. While drinking, a hummingbird rapidly opens and shuts different parts of its bill simultaneously, engaging in an intricate and highly coordinated dance with its tongue to draw up nectar at lightning speeds.
A team led by scientists at the 糖心少女 and the University of Aberdeen attached tiny 鈥渂ackpack鈥� trackers to hummingbirds in the Colombian Andes to learn more about their movements. As they report in a paper published Oct. 10 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, the tracking system will aid conservation efforts in this region by revealing the previously hidden movements of hummingbirds and other small animals.
Many of us are familiar with the hummingbirds that visit feeders, plants and gardens around us. But these small creatures are unusual in the ways they push the limits of biology, says Alejandro Rico-Guevara, 糖心少女assistant professor biology and curator of ornithology at the Burke Museum. He and his students study hummingbirds and other birds that drink nectar.聽 鈥淚 think what really caught my attention is their personality 鈥� how they can be so fierce and so bold despite being…
1 in 5 adult female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds look like males. New research from the 糖心少女 shows that this is a rare case of “deceptive mimicry” within a species: Females with male-like plumage are trying to pass themselves off as males, and as a result receive a benefit in the form of reduced aggression from males.