06/24/2026
Let’s talk about birds as pollinators…When pollination is carried out by birds, it is called “Ornithophily.” No idea how to pronounce that!
The most common pollinator bird is the hummingbird, especially here in the Continental US. Hawaii has the honeycreeper and Australia the honeyeater. Certain parrots and sunbirds in the tropics are also pollinators. But there is another kind of bird here in the Southern part of the US that I was totally surprised to discover is also a pollinator. Stay tuned to see which very common bird it is, I bet you’ll be surprised too!
Featured here is the buff-bellied hummingbird captured in Mission, Texas last fall.