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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Ornithophily on the Canary Islands

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(1) On the Canary Islands and Madeira typical bird-flowers occur in at least twelve species of six genera, although true flower-birds are absent. This inconsistency is in part elucidated by field observations on exotic and wild plants of Tenerife. —(2) In the Botanical Garden of Orotava it could be observed that various ornithophilous plants, which were introduced there, were visited by indigenous birds for nectar and in one case (Orthostemon) for food tissue. Of the three bird species involved, an endemic race of Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) and resident Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) exploit, and pollinate, flowers legitimously, while the Wild Canary (Serinus canaria) is predominantly a destructive nectar robber. —(3) The insular Chiffchaff also proved to be a regular pollinator in the wild, at least ofCanarina canariensis andIsoplexis canariensis, two ornithophilous paleoendemics. Ornithophily, thus, is naturally practised on the island, though by birds basically insectivorous. —(4) A list of Macaronesian plants bearing the more or less complete ornithophilous syndrome is presented, including newly recognizedTeucrium heterophyllum andScrophularia calliantha. —(5) On biogeographical and faunistic grounds it is presumed that the modern visitors of Canarian bird flowers are secondary rather than the original partners of the continental tertiary flora in which these plants originated. Palearctic immigrants, when becoming resident on the islands during and since the Pleistocene, adopted facultative nectar feeding, entering an “orphaned” food niche. Casual flower visits in Europe suggest a certain predisposition of the Chiffchaff and the Blackcap for the exploitation of flowers. — (6) The ability of unspecialized birds to acquire nectardrinking spontaneously and to pass this habit on to their offspring, is demonstrated by a population of Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) which have visited ornithophilousKniphofia (Liliaceae) in Berlin for several years.