Woody woodpecker enjoys soft drinks: the blond-crested woodpecker seeks nectar and pollinates canopy plants in south-eastern Brazil

Abstract

Insects are the staple diet of woodpeckers, but some species also habitually feed on fruits. A few woodpecker species are recorded as flower visitors for nectar intake. We report here on the blond-crested woodpecker (Celeus flavescens) taking nectar from flowers of two canopy species, Spirotheca passifloroides (Bombacaceae) and Schwartzia brasiliensis (Marcgraviaceae), in the Atlantic forest of south-eastern Brazil. Spirotheca passifloroides blooms for three months in the austral winter, whereas S. brasiliensis blooms for two months in the summer. Flowers of both species produce large amounts of dilute nectar. Celeus flavescens visits several flowers per plant touching the anthers and stigmas with its head and throat, and thus acts as a pollen vector. We suggest that woodpeckers may be more frequent flower visitors than previously thought, and that feeding on ripe fruits may be a simple behavioural step for the origin of nectar feeding by Neotropical woodpeckers. Insetos formam a dieta básica dos pica-paus, porém algumas espécies também se alimentam habitualmente de frutos e poucas espécies procuram flores para tomar néctar. Registramos aqui o joão-velho ou pica-pau-de-cabeça-amarela (Celeus flavescens) ao tomar néctar de flores em duas espécies de plantas do dossel, Spirotheca passifloroides (Bombacaceae) e Schwartzia brasiliensis (Marcgraviaceae), em Mata Atlântica do sudeste do Brasil. Spirotheca passifloroides floresce por três meses no inverno, ao passo que S. brasiliensis floresce ao longo de dois meses no verão. As flores de ambas as espécies produzem néctar abundante e diluído. Celeus flavescens visita várias flores por planta, tocando as anteras e os estigmas com a cabeça e o pescoço, assim agindo como polinizador. Sugerimos que visitas de pica-paus a flores sejam mais freqüentes do que o suposto e que se alimentar em frutos maduros seria um passo comportamental simples para a origem da tomada de néctar por pica-paus neotropicais. Palavras

Sugar preferences and digestive efficiency in an opportunistic avian nectarivore, the Dark-capped Bulbul Pycnonotus tricolor

“…While flower visitation by generalist avian nectarivores was noted in the past (Cruden and Toledo 1977;Toledo 1977), floral adaptation for pollination by these birds has only recently been well documented (Vicentini and Fischer 1999;Mendonca and Anjos 2006;Rocca et al 2006;Schmidt-Lebuhna et al 2007;Botes et al 2008;Johnson and Nicolson 2008;Rocca and Sazima 2008;RodriguezRodriguez and Valido 2008;Symes et al 2008;Brown et al 2009) Studies in the past tended to lump both generalist and specialist passerine nectarivores into a single group that was contrasted with hummingbirds. The fallacy of this hummingbird-passerine dichotomy was pointed out by Johnson and Nicolson (2008) who presented data showing that flowers pollinated by specialist passerines are strongly convergent with those pollinated by hummingbirds, and that the most significant dichotomy in bird pollination systems is between specialist and generalist nectarivores, regardless of their phylogenetic affinity.…”

Pollination biology of melittophilous legume tree species in the Atlantic Forest in Southeast Brazil

“…The absence of this kind of study is mainly due to difficulties in reaching the flowers in the canopy (Prata-de-Assis-Pires & Freitas 2008;Rocca & Sazima 2008). To our knowledge, only a few studies to date have described the pollinators of some ornithophilous species in the canopy (Rocca et al 2006;Rocca & Sazima 2008), as well as the pollinators and reproductive biology of some melittophilous legume tree species (Borges et al 2008;Prata-de-Assis-Pires & Freitas 2008;Wolowski & Freitas 2010;Amorim et al 2013Amorim et al , Ávila et al 2015, and the bee visitors of some mass flowering tree species (Ramalho 2004;Brito & Sazima 2012).…”

Assessment of the genotoxic and antigenotoxic potential of crude extracts and fractions of Schwartzia brasiliensis (Choisy) Bedell ex Giraldo-Caas

“…This is a shrub species whose flowering takes place in summer (Ferreira, 1995;Zamith and Scarano, 2004) and whose conspicuous inflorescences might be used for ornamental purposes. S. brasiliensis also presents nectaries to attract bird pollinators (Rocca et al, 2006;Rocca and Sazima, 2008). Initially, the species was included in the Norantea genus (Giraldo-Cañas, 2004), but it now belongs to the Schwartzia genus.…”