P l orter
July 2!, 2018
PLAY HARD HAVE FUN ENJOY THE GAME
MONROE OUTDOORS by Terry W. Johnson
he humming-
bird cannot live
without nectar.
This sugary fluid
makes up 90 percent of its
diet. This tiny bird gathers
it from either
nectar-bearing
flowers or hum-
mingbird feed-
ers. A humming-
bird collects
this life-giving
fluid using its
long, seemingly
simple tongue.
For many
years, scientists TERRY W.
believed the
hummingbird used its
tongue to feed on nectar
much in the same way we
drink soft drinks through
a straw. However, this
theory was discarded after
it was found that there are
no tubes in a humming-
bird's tongue. There had to
be another explanation.
It wasn't long before an-
other explanation emerged.
Since a long channel runs
down the center of the
top of the hummingbird's
tongue it was popularly
believed that nectar flowed
through this groove from
the tip of the bird's bill into
its body by the well-known
process of capillary action.
Plants use capillary ac-
tion to move nutrients and
water from place to place.
-ds explanation had been
accepted by the scientific
world for decades. As such,
I have mentioned it during
hummingbird programs I
have been giving for three
decades.
However, recent research
has demonstrated that,
while it is undoubtedly
true some nectar
does pass up
a hummer's
tongue into its
body, this ineffi-
cient process ac-
counts for only
about a third of
food needed by a
hummingbird to
survive. Clearly,
JOHNSON the humming-
bird also utilizes
some other mechanism to
ingest nectar. The question
remained, "What is it?"
Recent research has
apparently answered this
perplexing question.
'In order to understand
what is actually happening,
you have to know some-
thing about the structure
of the bird's tongue. As it
turns out, it is far more
complex than we thought.
The hummingbird has a
very long tongue. In fact,
it can be extended out as
far as its bill is long. This
permits a hummer to reach
nectar pooled up in the far
end of the longest tubular-
shaped flowers.
A groove runs down the
center of this unique organ.
Another channel runs
down the outside edge
of the tongue. However,
roughly half way down the
tongue it actually separates
into two halves.
The tip of the tongue
is forked like the tongue
of a snake. Each of these.
tips is flat. The tips of
the tongue are also sur-
rounded by extremely
small hair like structures.
However, unlike our hair,
which is round, they can
be described as membra-
nous flaps; when a hum-
mingbird is not nectar-
ing, these feathery flaps
envelop the flat (upper)
side of the tongue. While
biologists long suspected
they played a role in col-
lecting nectar, proof was
lacking.
The mystery surround-
ing their use was finally
solved when a team of
scientists conducted a
five-year study involv-
ing 18 species of hum-
mingbirds. The key to
unlocking the secret was
being able to photograph
hummingbirds collecting
nectar using the slow-
motion video cameras. The
birds were photographed
feeding at specially de-
signed transparent artificial
flowers.
The researchers discov-
ered that when a hum-
mingbird dips its bill into
nectar it licks the nectar at
a rate of 13 licks per sec-
ond. This causes the hair-
like folds on each of the
tongue's two tips to form
tubes. The licking motion
creates what amounts to
a pumping action, which
Hummingbirds, like this female rubythroat, have unique features
that help these small birds survive, like tongues made to effecientlly
deliver nectar to their bodies. (Photo/Terry Johnson)
siphons nectar away from juices oozing from punc-
the flower up the tongue ture wounds made in ber-
and into the humming- ries and fruits by orchard
bird. This process takes orioles and birds.
only about 1/10th of a It was once mistakenly
second. Who would have thought that the hum-
ever thought so much mingbird employs its
is involved every time a forked tongue to also
hummingbird feeds? capture small spiders and
As you might expect insects like mosquitoes
this same process is used and fruit flies. However,
when a hummingbird these feather like flaps are
dines on sap that wells up thought to aid the birds in
in holes excavated in trees harvesting extremely small
by yellow-bellied sapsuck- insects that are often found
ers, and on those rare in a flower's nectar.
occasions when it feeds on Yet another theory
purporting that the
sticky surface of the bird's
tongue allowed it to cap-
ture small prey was also
debunked.
As far as we know,
like most other birds,
the hummingbird has a
poor sense of taste. The
hummer has only about
40-60 taste buds, some of
which are located on the
underside of its tongue. In
comparison, humans are
blessed with some 60,000
taste buds.
The bird can appar-
ently identify fluids with
varying concentrations
of sugar. The nectar
produced by most wild-
flowers has roughly a 20
percent sugar content.
When given a choice, the
hummingbird seems to
prefer nectar with higher
concentrations of sugar
and shuns fluids with
less than one part sugar
to eight parts water.
As we learn more about
the hummingbird's tongue,
it is obvious that it is one
of the many amazing
features possessed by what
we already knew is a truly
amazing bird.
Terry Johnson is retired
Program Manager of the
Georgia Nongame-Endan-
gered Wildlife Program. He
has written the informative
column 'Monroe Outdoors'
for the Reporter for many
years. Email him at tjwood-
duck@bellsouth.net.
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