Image description: Sword-billed hummingbird. Bright green and purple hummingbird with a very, very long beak
(Originally published earlier today on mstdn.social)
A virtual community
Posts from Mastodon users, featured natively in a community, so you can view them without the need for them to be re-hosted or screenshoted, and reply to the original author and Mastodon respondents if you wish.
Has so far included content from Warsandpeas, Mr. Lovenstein, SMBC, Loading Artist, Low Quality Facts, nixCraft, ElleGray, and other interesting or provocative stuff I've random'd across on Mastodon.
Supported:
Comments & Upvotes
Unsupported:
Posts, Downvotes, & PD's Automod
This is a sword-billed hummingbird of South America in the genus Ensifera. It is the only bird whose bill is longer than its entire body (excluding its tail feathers.)
The extremely long bill helps them feed on a specific flower passiflora mixta with long corollas which are not accessible to other species.
Most hummers use their bills to clean/preen but these longfaced fellows can only use their feet because their bills are too long!