Masked Flowerpiercer

Another genus of Neotropic birds named Flowerpiercers cheats the normal system of pollination, bypassing the symbiotic relationships that form between flowers and their adapted pollinators. They’ve developed a different kind of highly specialized beak, with a sharp hook at the end that will pierce the base of flowers to steal its nectar. In doing so, it won’t have pollen spread to its beak and face, as is typical with other pollinators, so won’t serve the plant by fertilizing other flowers. The species shown here is the Masked Flowerpiercer, Diglossa cyanea, seen within Ecuador’s Chocó cloud forest.