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This Morning Outside

by Diane Porter

July 31, 2016
Birdwatching Dot Com
Fairfield, Iowa

When Ruby-throated Hummingbird slips her bill up into the nectary of the flower, her forehead gets daubed with pollen. (See the long bill through the transparent flower?) So clever, the salvia blossom, to position the pollen at the end of the dangling pink stamen, exactly there.

And right beside the stamen hangs another thread, the pistil, which picks up any pollen left from the previous flower. Voila! Pollination. Very clever indeed.

Mnemonic for beginner botany geeks:
STAMEN are male parts, because they STAY MEN.
PISTIL is a female part, because, well, "pistol packin mama."

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Chickadee on hand

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