What are pollinators?
The birds & the bees
Pollinators are animals that carry pollen from one plant to another.
Common pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, bats, and other flying bugs. They visit flowers to drink nectar or feed on pollen, transporting pollen grains as they move from spot to spot.
There are more than 250,000 species of Angiosperms, flowering plants that produce seeds, which require pollination to reproduce. While some use abiotic forces, wind and water, over three-fourths of these plant species rely on animal pollinators. Hummingbirds for example are key pollinators of wildflowers. They use their strong eyesight to locate flowers and withdraw the nectar using their long slender bills. Most species eat several times their body weight in nectar, supplementing with small insects, in just one day.