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 85 hummingbirds and protein DHJanzen101097.jpg high resolution
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| And what is beneath the hummingbird in image DHJanzen101095.jpg above? Each fitting in a teaspoon, where did their protein come from? We all know that hummingbirds visit flowers and get their sugars there. But what of their other dietary needs? Part of the hummingbirds proteins are built from amino acids obtained from nectar. Indeed, the nectar of hummingbird-pollinated flowers is much richer in amino acids than is the nectar in bee-pollinated flowers (who get their amino acids largely by leaching out of the pollen that they consume, and whose larvae grow up feeding on protein-rich pollen) and than is the nectar in moth-pollinated flowers (who get their proteins largely when they were caterpillars feeding on leaves). But hummingbirds are also great hawkers of insects in flight, foliage- and flower-gleaners and even pick spiders out of spider webs. They feed these insects to their nestlings such as these two, and eat some themselves. | ||
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