Bird feeders are rapidly changing hummingbirds’ beaks

Hummingbirds Are Evolving to Adapt to Life With Humans

Anna’s hummingbirds have evolved to have longer, larger beaks to access backyard feeders in urban areas. It could be a step toward becoming a “commensal” species that lives alongside humans, like pigeons.

Bird feeders are rapidly changing hummingbirds’ beaks

In just about 20 years, the beaks of Anna’s hummingbird became longer and more tapered, according to a new study published in the scientific journal “Global Change Biology.”

In California, Hummingbird Beaks Have Been Transformed by Feeders

The profusion of hummingbird feeders in California homes has not only allowed some hummingbirds to expand their range, but has also altered the shape of their beaks. Read more on E360 →

Some types of hummingbirds, such as the calipta of rubyhead calypte anna, have changed their anatomy to coexist with people in cities and villages. To adapt to the feeders and drinking fountains that people put in their backyards, birds have grown larger and longer beaks than they had before, Wired writes. Biologists believe that we are watching the hummingbirds become another synantropic species. These are animals that are dependent on human se…

California Hummingbirds Rapid Evolutionary Change

With plenty of artificial nectar available, Anna’s hummingbirds have expanded their range northward and their beaks have become longer and larger.

Possible evolution of hummingbird beaks since WWII

The report below may represent a case of rapid adaptive evolution of a trait: the beaks of Anna’s hummingbirds (Calypte anna) in California, though there are sufficient confounding factors that, were I teaching evolution, I would still use Peter and Rosemary Grant’s work on the beaks of medium ground finches in the Galápagos as my paradigm. (The Galápagos incident occurred over a single year on one small island and confounding factors are virtua…