The perching bird Coereba flaveola as a co-pollinator of bromeliad flowers in southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Hummingbirds are the only previously recorded bird pollinators of ornithophilous bromeliads in southeastern Brazil. We studied the pollination of three species of Bromelioideae by the Bananaquit Coereba flaveola, a perching bird. Flowers of the bromeliads Aechmea bromeliifolia, Aechmea distichantha, and Acanthostachys strobilacea are visited by this perching bird, as well as by hummingbirds. The Bananaquit perches on the inflorescences and probes within the narrow corolla with its slender bill, fully opening the flower in order to reach the nectar. Although they look somewhat "plundered," the flowers visited by the Bananaquit are pollinated during its periodic visits to the plants.