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Flowerpiercers are 'cheats': they are nectar drinkers like hummingbirds and honeycreepers, but instead of performing a service to the plant by transferring pollen, they bite holes at the base of the flower with their hooked bills and steal the nectar. There are a number of species in the Neotropics; this one is found in the Andes. It was foraging around trumpet flowers near one of the Inca ruins near Cusco, Peru (another page shows the masked flowerpiercer, from cloud forest habitats). |
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