Long thin curved beak of the Sunbirds' enter deep into the nectar to sip showing us how to do it on the Bottle Brush Bush or an Argave flower.
Some have long or longer thin beaks depending on the flowers, long tongue to sip deep into honeysuckle, aloe flowers, wild dagga or similar flowers, sugar-rich food source for speciality bird.
Special feeding adaptations.
Nectar is a sugar-rich food source that is utilised by means of a very long tongue and a specialised bill. The tongue is tubular with some projections at the tongue tip that are used to suck up the nectar, using capillary action. The tongue can be extended, out of the beak, to almost the same length of the beak.
The bill is slender and curved, with a sharp point. The bill has a serrated tip to enable the sunbird to break into the corolla of the flower. Most feeding is done by poking the beak down into the flower.
Other special adaptations
It is thought that some of the sunbirds are able to slow down their metabolism at night and in very cold weather to save energy. The wings are short and rounded, allowing the sunbirds capable of sustained hovering. South African Sunbirds
Some of the variety in this species of which we have 21 in South Africa, Amethyst, Collared, Malachite, Scarlet-chested, White-bellied Sunbird taken during a special morning looking into the Bottle Brush Tree in the mountains.
Other birds joined in to watch what the fuss was all about.
In my garden the Argave and Tubular flowers attracted the birds, pollinators to certain plants where they rely solely on longer or shorter bill to draw the nectar up.
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All photography and stories are my own,
Thought for Today: "Not all flowers produce fruits. And not all seeds become trees. Even of the same tree kind, not all of them produce flowers and let alone fruits." - African Proverb
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