Mary's Monday Metazoan: Cruel flower

This flower, over many generations, has warped the poor buff-tail sicklebilled hummingbird's beak into that bizarre curve.

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Female hummingbird, asleep. Photo by Dylan Maldonado. A flash of scarlet and emerald zooms past me as I poke my sleepy head out of the kitchen door, a vibrant splash of summer color against the sullen winter sky. Suddenly, an indignant Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, confronts me, beak-to-nose…
Many animals use impressive displays to seduce a mate, but few go as far as the male Anna's hummingbird. He performs a death-defying courtship dive, plummeting to the ground at speeds and accelerations that put jet fighters to shame. The tiny 7cm bird reaches a top speed of 60mph and at the…
tags: Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch, 7 July 2005 [larger view]. Date Time Original: 2005:07:07 07:19:59 Exposure Time…
I thought this was "vipers bugloss" but I'm no longer at all convinced by that. Even in the unwarped version. But this is an odd one. See how the stem has become flat, and the flower head all congested? I'd be interested to know what sort of oddity or gall this is, and also the True Name of the…