The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Hummingbird

Tiny mites seem capable of relying on the power of static cling to hop into hummingbird nostrils and move between flowers.

Flower mites spend their lives slurping nectar and nibbling pollen in flowers throughout the tropics.

To travel from one blossom to another, these tiny, eight-legged creatures hitch rides on the beaks of hummingbirds, taking shelter in the birds’ nostrils during flight.

When a speedy hummingbird arrives at a flower to drink nectar, mites run toward its beak to get onboard before eventually transferring to another blossom.

 But the poppy-seed-size mites are basically blind and can’t jump, said Carlos Garcia-Robledo, a biologist at the University of Connecticut.

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How do they sense the bird’s presence and attach to it so quickly?

Moreover, these electric fields can also rapidly lift mites across a small air gap.

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