Bananaquit
Bananaquit
The bananaquit is a very small bird (length 10 cm) that often
visits gardens. It lives high in trees and there you can hear its
high sweet song
, but my
taperecorder had difficulty recording it. If you imitate the
sound it will come close, to chase away the intruder.
The bird eats nectar from the flowers in gardens. It can (as
some hummingbirds) pierce the flowers of hibiscus plants from the
side, so 'stealing' the nectar without pollinating the plant. He
leaves behind a small hole in the red petals. Because of this and
because it will also, at some places, boldy pick some sugar from
a table, it is named 'suikerdiefje' (sugar thieve) in Dutch (and
comparable things in other languages).
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