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Hoverfly 'kissing a thistle' wins photo competition

Started Dec 10, 2014 | Discussions thread
jbcohen Senior Member • Posts: 1,241
Re: Hoverfly 'kissing a thistle' wins photo competition

What the bird is doing is a process that is called cross-polinization. The bird has a very long tongue that he/she extends down into the flower and draws out a substance that he/she uses for food. At the same time there is another substance that stick to the feet of the bird that is transfered to other plants that helps the other plants to grow. What the bird is doing is having a light lunch. You can tell the male birds from the female birds by their rear tail feathers, the males rear tail feathers come to a point in the very back, the females do not have a point in the back, the male mounts the female in the rear and if she had pointed tail feathers she the male would impale himself on them and die before he got to do anything. In these birds the boys and girls look identical you need to look at the very rear tail feathers to tell the difference. We are the only animals where the males and females select their spouse, in the animal kingdom the girls do the selecting and the males will go with anyone that is of their species and is female.

This is one specie of bird that I do not know how to tell the boys from the girls, they both have the same rear but these bug males still mount from the rear.

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