Hummingbird and Bat Pollinators of the Chiricahuas

By Theodore Fleming, M. Brock Fenton, Sherri L Fenton

Temperate and tropical species of vertebrate pollinators overlap in the mountains of southeastern Arizona, coevolving with the region’s stunning floral diversity.

Biology Evolution Ecology Nature Conservation Zoology

Current Issue

This Article From Issue

November-December 2020

Volume 108, Number 6
Page 362

DOI: 10.1511/2020.108.6.362

It’s sunrise in Cave Creek Canyon on the eastern face of Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains. The melodious, descending whistles of a canyon wren fill the cool air along with the insistent chatterings of several species of hummingbirds as they imbibe their morning meals at hummingbird feeders located at the Southwestern Research Station (SWRS), elevation 1,646 meters.

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  • The incredible floral diversity in the Chiricahuas of Arizona attracts an amazing group of vertebrate pollinators: about 17 species of hummingbird and two species of nectar-feeding bat.
  • As the plants and the pollinators have coevolved over millennia, a unique assemblage found nowhere else on Earth has emerged, drawing naturalists from all over the world.
  • While nectar bats move pollen across long distances, territorial hummingbirds pollinate plants within a small area, which can isolate populations and drive speciation.
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