I was away from birding-aus and missed the beginning of this exchange.
Another amusing twist is the Neotropical flower-piercers, which "cheat" the
flowers by piercing the base of the corolla to get the nectar, rather than
coming down the tube like a hummingbird (or hawk-moth), which perform a
pollination function.
At 09:29 AM 5/19/97 +1000, Hugo Phillipps wrote:
>>From: "Keith Barnes [ADU]" <>
>>To: Hugo Phillipps <>
>>Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 10:00:35 SAST-2
>>Subject: Re: Seeking information.
>>Priority: normal
>>
>>> ... evolved associated fauna. Are American warblers trying (albeit
clumsily,
>>> without the right beak shapes, tongue lengths and brushes, or naked faces)
>>> to get the nectar ?
>>
>>In Africa I've seen sunbirds, which happen to have the right beak
>>shape, tongue length and brushes quite efficiently and frequently
>>obtain nectar from Eucalypts, which conveniently flower when a lot of
>>the indigenous stuff isn't....
>>
>>It begs the question, in 100 000 years will the world be inhabited by
>>psuedo-honeyeaters?
>>......................................................................
>>Keith Barnes
>>Avian Demography Unit
>>Department of Statistical Sciences
>>University of Cape Town
>>Rondebosch
>>7700
>>South Africa
>>
>>Tel (021) 650-2330 Fax (021) 650-3726
>>
>
>Hugo Phillipps,
>Birds Australia Conservation & Liaison,
>Australian Bird Research Centre,
>415 Riversdale Road,
>Hawthorn East, VIC 3123, Australia.
>Tel: +61 3 9882 2622. Fax: +61 3 9882 2677.
>Email: <>
>The Virtual Emu: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~raou/raou.html
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