Hummingbirds as Desert Pollinators
Beautiful and beneficial, hummingbirds important to desert plants
Feb 24, 2007
Hummingbirds have been identified by botanists and other plant experts as a “keystone species,” serving as a kind of mobile genetic disperser between plant populations over pretty long distances. This helps to prevent serious inbreeding and adds to the robustness and productivity of plants. In turn, this robustness helps non-migratory species who feed on the nectar of the same plants.
Hummingbirds have very good eyes. They are attracted to red. In fact, red is by far their preferred color. They have long bills and tongues, which they thrust deep into flowers to retrieve nectar. When they withdraw, their faces are covered with pollen. Flitting from flower to flower, they successfully pollinate the species they frequent.
Perhaps the most ecologically important hummingbird species to the desert areas of North America is the Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus).
Their migratory route takes them from as far south as Jalisco, Mexico to as far north as Alaska.
The rufous hummingbird, although not yet endangered, is still in peril particularly because of the loss of habitat. To survive, hummingbirds must eat several times their own weight, and, on their migratory flight, must have food regularly or they will die.
But over the last half-century, millions of hectares of desert and thornscrub vegetation in western Mexico and the southwestern U.S. have been converted to chemically-intensive agriculture or to pastures of exotic grasses.
Additionally, particularly because of overgrazing, millions of acres have been taken over by aggressive, non-native species which are valueless as a food source to the hummingbird.
Flowers which attract hummingbirds tend to:
- Have tubes, funnels or cups
- Be tubular and have petals that are recurved
- Have strong supports for perching
- Are brightly colored - red, yellow, or orange
- Be odorless (because birds have a poor sense of smell)
- Open in daylight
- Prolific nectar producers with nectar deeply hidden
- Modest pollen producers that are designed to dust the bird’s head/back with pollen as the bird forages for nectar.
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