Hummingbirds

[ysabetwordsmith]

Backyard feeders changed the shape of hummingbird beaks, scientists say

According to a recent study in Global Change Biology, a journal focused on environmental change, the use and prevalence of hummingbird feeders — like those red and clear plastic ones filled with homemade sugar water — changed the size and shape of the birds' beaks. The range of the hummingbird also spread from the southern part of California all the way up the West coast into Canada.

"Very simplified, the bills get longer and they become more slender, and that helps to have a larger tongue inside that can get more nectar from the feeder at a time," says Alejandro Rico-Guevara, a professor of biology at the University of Washington and senior author on the study.

Comments

[low_delta]

OK, but is this detrimental in any way? It is harder for them to catch bugs with a narrower beak, for example?

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

The article didn't mention anything about that.

However, in order for a trait to persist, and especially spread widely, it must provide a net advantage to survival and reproduction. That means, if there are any disadvantages, the gain outweighs the loss.

Re: Well ...

[low_delta]

Yeah, I always worry, though, whether they become dependent. Like when I put food and water out in the winter, what happens if I stop? Were there birds that stuck around because of this?

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Feeding birds will not stop them from migrating, usually -- though I suspect it might if a species has both resident and migratory members. It will cause birds to cluster around the food source. If that disappears, they will disperse to seek food elsewhere. This is a normal thing in the wild, where a flock will find a source such as a wild crabapple tree, spend a day or few stripping it bare, and then move on. However, it is recommended that if you start feeding birds, you continue for that whole season.