Species of the day: Blue-crowned motmot! This particular bird flew into one of our hummingbird nets today. Adam took it out; it thanked him by pooping quite severely on his hand and then biting him. Motmots are predators, but don’t seem to be very picky in their diets – everything from ants and spiders to bats! They sit on branches and wait for something tasty to come along.

We think we’ve found the main point of entry for the hummingbird’s tongue in the Heliconia flower to access the nectar. Today we did a cut-away of a flower so that we could see what was going on inside when a hummingbird visits. Is the the key to the pollination problem?

Species of the day: green hermit hummingbird! This is our main focal species for the study. I was pleased to get such a close photo of this male, perched on his food plant, Heliconia tortuosa. The males like to get together and sing to show off for the females. The females then seem to pick the best male for a “husband”.