Editing Hummingbird (section)

=== Coevolution with ornithophilous flowers ===
[[File:Purple-throated carib hummingbird feeding.jpg|thumb|[[Purple-throated carib]] feeding at a flower]]

Hummingbirds are specialized [[nectarivore]]s tied to the [[ornithophily|ornithophilous]] flowers upon which they feed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stiles |first=Gary |year=1981 |title=Geographical aspects of bird flower coevolution, with particular reference to Central America |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pdf2/002816500087380.pdf |journal=Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=323–351 |doi=10.2307/2398801 |jstor=2398801 |bibcode=1981AnMBG..68..323S |s2cid=87692272}}</ref> This [[coevolution]] implies that morphological traits of hummingbirds, such as bill length, bill curvature, and body mass, are correlated with morphological traits of plants, such as [[petal|corolla]] length, curvature, and volume.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maglianesi |first1=M.A. |last2=Blüthgen |first2=N. |last3=Böhning-Gaese |first3=K. |last4=Schleuning |first4=M. |name-list-style=amp |date=2014 |title=Morphological traits determine specialization and resource use in plant–hummingbird networks in the Neotropics |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268518487 |journal=Ecology |volume=95 |issue=12 |pages=3325–334 |doi=10.1890/13-2261.1|bibcode=2014Ecol...95.3325M }}</ref> Some species, especially those with unusual bill shapes, such as the sword-billed hummingbird and the [[eutoxeres|sicklebills]], are coevolved with a small number of flower species. Even in the most specialized hummingbird–plant mutualisms, the number of food plant lineages of the individual hummingbird species increases with time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Abrahamczyk |first1=Stefan |last2=Poretschkin |first2=Constantin |last3=Renner |first3=Susanne S. |name-list-style=amp |date=2017 |title=Evolutionary flexibility in five hummingbird/plant mutualistic systems: testing temporal and geographic matching |journal=Journal of Biogeography |volume=44 |issue=8 |pages=1847–855 |doi=10.1111/jbi.12962 |bibcode=2017JBiog..44.1847A |s2cid=90399556}}</ref> The bee hummingbird (''Mellisuga helenae'') &ndash; the world's smallest bird &ndash; evolved to [[dwarfism]] likely because it had to compete with long-billed hummingbirds having an advantage for nectar foraging from specialized flowers, consequently leading the bee hummingbird to more successfully compete for flower foraging against insects.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Simon, Matt |date=10 July 2015 |title=Absurd Creature of the Week: The World's Tiniest Bird Weighs Less Than a Dime |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/07/absurd-creature-of-the-week-bee-hummingbird |magazine=Wired |access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|display-authors=3 |last1=Dalsgaard |first1=Bo |last2=Martín González |first2=Ana M. |last3=Olesen |first3=Jens M. |last4=Ollerton |first4=J |last5=Timmermann |first5=A |last6=Andersen |first6=L. H. |last7=Tossas |first7=A. G. |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |title=Plant-hummingbird interactions in the West Indies: Floral specialisation gradients associated with environment and hummingbird size |journal=Oecologia |volume=159 |issue=4 |pages=757–766 |bibcode=2009Oecol.159..757D |doi=10.1007/s00442-008-1255-z |pmid=19132403 |s2cid=35922888}}</ref>

[[File:Colibri-thalassinus-001-edit.jpg|thumb|[[Lesser violetear]] at a flower]]

Many plants pollinated by hummingbirds produce flowers in shades of red, orange, and bright pink, although the birds take nectar from flowers of other colors. Hummingbirds can see [[wavelength]]s into the near-[[ultraviolet]], but hummingbird-pollinated flowers do not reflect these wavelengths as many insect-pollinated flowers do. This narrow [[color spectrum]] may render hummingbird-pollinated flowers relatively inconspicuous to most insects, thereby reducing [[nectar robbing]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rodríguez-Gironés |first1=M.A. |last2=Santamaría |first2=L. |name-list-style=amp |year=2004 |title=Why are so many bird flowers red? |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=2 |issue=10 |page=e350 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020350 |pmc=521733 |pmid=15486585 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Altschuler |first=D. L. |year=2003 |title=Flower color, hummingbird pollination, and habitat irradiance in four Neotropical forests |journal=[[Biotropica]] |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=344–355 |doi=10.1646/02113 |s2cid=55929111}}</ref> Hummingbird-pollinated flowers also produce relatively weak nectar (averaging 25% sugars) containing a high proportion of [[sucrose]], whereas insect-pollinated flowers typically produce more concentrated nectars dominated by [[fructose]] and [[glucose]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nicolson |first1=S.W. |last2=Fleming |first2=P.A. |name-list-style=amp |year=2003 |title=Nectar as food for birds: the physiological consequences of drinking dilute sugar solutions |url=http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/4725 |journal=Plant Systematics and Evolution |volume=238 |issue=1–4 |pages=139–153 |doi=10.1007/s00606-003-0276-7 |bibcode=2003PSyEv.238..139N |s2cid=23401164|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Hummingbirds and the plants they visit for nectar have a tight coevolutionary association, generally called a plant–bird [[mutualism (biology)|mutualistic network]].<ref name="Junker">{{Cite journal |last1=Junker |first1=Robert R. |last2=Blüthgen |first2=Nico |last3=Brehm |first3=Tanja |last4=Binkenstein |first4=Julia |last5=Paulus |first5=Justina |last6=Martin Schaefer |first6=H. |last7=Stang |first7=Martina |name-list-style=amp |date=2012-12-13 |title=Specialization on traits as basis for the niche-breadth of flower visitors and as structuring mechanism of ecological networks |journal=Functional Ecology |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=329–341 |doi=10.1111/1365-2435.12005 |doi-access=free}}</ref> These birds show high specialization and modularity, especially in communities with high species richness. These associations are also observed when closely related hummingbirds, such as two species of the same genus, visit distinct sets of flowering species.<ref name=Junker/><ref name="Martín">{{Cite journal |last1=Martín González |first1=Ana M. |last2=Dalsgaard |first2=Bo |display-authors=etal |date=2015-07-30 |title=The macroecology of phylogenetically structured hummingbird-plant networks |journal=Global Ecology and Biogeography |volume=24 |issue=11 |pages=1212–224 |doi=10.1111/geb.12355 |bibcode=2015GloEB..24.1212M |hdl-access=free |hdl=10026.1/3407}}</ref>