Hi, tweets.

I know these aren't birds, but they came up in the discussion of
Rufous Hummingbird arrival times.

I've always found it interesting that these two species of Rubus and
Ribes, respectively, were reddish pink in two genera of plants that
feature mostly white-flowered species. They are also early bloomers.
They still attract and are probably pollinated by bumblebees, like
others of their genera, but I think they evolved the red color to
take advantage of the fact that hummingbirds are much more dependably
active during the commonly wet and chilly spring weather, just as
we're having today, than bumblebees are. Being conspicuous to the
hummers, the plants have expanded their options greatly. They are
also both Pacific Northwest plant species, coinciding with an area in
which Rufous is a common (and early) spring migrant and breeder. But
note that neither of them is a classical hummingbird flower, bright
red to red-orange with a long, tubular corolla.

Rufous also breeds well to the east of the range of these two plant
species, and I don't know if there are other plants east of the
Cascades that have taken advantage of spring hummingbird migration.
Scarlet gilia serve the birds well where it occurs, but later in the
summer.

Most of the "classical" hummingbird flowers in the PNW bloom in late
summer and early fall and coincide with the southbound migration of
Rufous and Calliope through the mountains. Mother Nature plans well!

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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