On the occurrence of frugivorous behavior by hummingbirds across the Americas
Research
Published: 16 December 2024
When Dr. Luis Martin Vallejos, a researcher at INMA and a collaborator with the Bird Ecology and Behavior Laboratory in Rio de Janeiro, set out to publish a comprehensive review of hummingbird frugivory, he made a special request. He wanted to include one of Anthony’s photographs, a stunning shot of a female Short-crested Coquette feeding on fruit. That image has become part of the project. Today, the paper has been published in Ornithology Research, and Anthony’s work now appears in this significant scientific study as a lasting contribution that combines art and science in the pursuit of understanding hummingbirds.
Abstract
Hummingbirds primarily feed on floral nectar, making them important pollinators. However, we documented three cases of frugivory by hummingbirds, two in Brazil and the other in Peru. After searching, we found several instances of frugivory and seed ingestion by Trochilidae species. This suggests that these birds obtain energy from flower nectar sugars and fruit, opening new opportunities for ecological and evolutionary research in frugivory. Using research articles, photographs, and videos in citizen science repositories, our search generated records of 25 species of hummingbird in frugivory distributed throughout the American continent. We showed frugivory by hummingbirds from Canada to Chile, from sea level to thousands of meters above, and in temperatures varying widely between cold and hot. Frugivory by hummingbirds proved to be a potentially opportunistic behavior. However, it widely spread among Trochilidae clades and occurs in the American continent’s most varied habitats and climatic conditions. Future studies must elucidate aspects of the functional ecology of these interactions to understand whether they can imply mutualistic or antagonistic effects on plant reproduction.