Slaty Flowerpiercer
We stopped in a gift shop in the highlands of Costa Rica, and one of my guides found a Slaty Flowerpiercer trapped inside. My guide gently took this tiny bird and let it rest on her palm until it was ready to fly away on its own, which is how bird banders are taught to release birds rather than trying to flip them into the air. Flowerpiercers are cheaters, using the hook on their bill to reach the nectar of a flower by piercing the base rather than going in through the front as hummingbirds do. Therefore, they do not help with pollination. They are in the same family as the Neotropical tanagers.
Slaty Flowerpiercer
We stopped in a gift shop in the highlands of Costa Rica, and one of my guides found a Slaty Flowerpiercer trapped inside. My guide gently took this tiny bird and let it rest on her palm until it was ready to fly away on its own, which is how bird banders are taught to release birds rather than trying to flip them into the air. Flowerpiercers are cheaters, using the hook on their bill to reach the nectar of a flower by piercing the base rather than going in through the front as hummingbirds do. Therefore, they do not help with pollination. They are in the same family as the Neotropical tanagers.