“A new study details the evolutionary change of Anna’s Hummingbirds, finding their beaks have grown longer and more tapered to get the most from common” bird feeders, says NPR. It adds:
Anna’s Hummingbirds in the western United States are not only keeping up with human influence on their habitat, they’re thriving.
According to a recent study in Global Change Biology, a journal focused on environmental change, the use and prevalence of hummingbird feeders — like those red and clear plastic ones filled with homemade sugar water — changed the size and shape of the birds’ beaks. The range of the hummingbird also spread from the southern part of California all the way up the West coast into Canada.
“Very simplified, the bills get longer and they become more slender, and that helps to have a larger tongue inside that can get more nectar from the feeder at a time,” says Alejandro Rico-Guevara, a professor of biology at the University of Washington and senior author on the study.
The study, which had been in the works since 2019 and had 16 collaborators across 12 different institutions, also found that the beaks of males grew pointier over time to allow them to fight off competing males at the feeders. The hummingbirds also moved further north, eventually showing up in much cooler temperatures as they chased the growing popularity of the bird feeders.
In Florida, populations of manatees and sea turtles have rebounded.
Fish species are rebounding off the coast of California due to their young finding a sanctuary in abandoned oil rigs.
A rare flightless grasshopper was found in Virginia for the first time in 79 years.
Mexican gray wolves have made a comeback in Arizona and New Mexico.
